Yolo County Municipal Code Ch. 7 Litter and Contaminants

For the purposes of this chapter, unless otherwise apparent from the context, certain words and phrases used in this chapter are defined as follows:

(a) “Contaminant” shall mean sewage, sludge, cesspool or septic tank effluent, an accumulation of human excreta, or liquid industrial waste.

(b) “Fill” shall mean deposits of soil, rock, or other irreducible materials placed by man.

(c) “Garbage” shall mean all solid putrescible wastes and all solid animal or vegetable refuse or residue which shall result from the preparation or care for, or treatment of, foodstuffs intended to be used as food, or shall have resulted from the preparation or handling of food for human consumption, or any decayed or unsound meat, fish, fruit, or vegetables, or the excreta from domestic animals.

(d) “Industrial waste” shall mean any and all liquid or solid waste substances, not sewage, from any producing, manufacturing, or processing operation of whatever nature.

(e) “Litter” shall mean and include garbage, rubbish, and refuse as defined in this section, except that litter shall not include fill.

(f) “Person” shall mean any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, joint venture, corporation, business trust, or company and any officer or agent thereof.

(g) “Refuse” shall mean and include all types of, but not be restricted to, putrescible or non-putrescible solid wastes consisting of both combustible and non-combustible wastes, such as paper, cardboard, garbage, grass clippings, tree or shrub trimmings, wood, bedding, crockery, rubber tires, construction and demolition waste, and similar waste materials, except sewage and liquid industrial wastes.

(h) “Rubbish” shall mean solid non-putrescible wastes, such as unusable, unwanted, or discarded material and debris resulting from normal community or business activities, or materials which by their presence may injuriously affect the health, safety, and comfort of persons and/or depreciate property values in the vicinity thereof. (§ 1, Ord. 619, as amended by § 3, Ord. 903, eff. February 12, 1981)

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to place, deposit, or dump any litter or allow any accumulation of litter to remain on any public or private property within the unincorporated area of the County except as set forth in this section.

(b) An occupant of property which is devoted entirely to commercial agricultural purposes, including the feeding and raising of livestock for dairying or poultry raising, may dispose on such property of his own refuse from operations conducted on such property by burying the refuse at least 800 feet from the nearest building used for human habitation, but such occupant may not permit any other person or agency to use his property for the disposal of refuse unless the property is declared a disposal area by the Board.

(c) Litter may be placed, deposited, or dumped and may remain in the areas designated as disposal areas by the Board, and the dumps maintained by the Cities of Woodland, Davis, and Winters and by the County on November 5, 1969, are hereby designated as such disposal areas. (§ 2, Ord. 619)

It shall be unlawful for any person to place, deposit, dump, or dispose of any contaminant in the unincorporated area in the County except by means of a private sewage disposal system or other acceptable means approved by the Health Officer in the manner provided by law or in a public sanitary sewer or disposal area designated by the Board. (§ 3, Ord. 619)

The Health Officer shall be the primary enforcement officer for the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter. To aid in such enforcement, the Sheriff’s office shall periodically report to the Health Officer citations or arrests made pursuant to the provisions of this chapter in the course of normal patrol activities. Employees of the County, members of agencies of the County, and the personnel of other governmental agencies who discover violations of the provisions of this chapter shall report to, and cooperate with, the Health Officer in enforcing the provisions of this chapter. (§ 5, Ord. 619)