Litter & Rubbish

Excerpt, emphasis added, Section 11-3A-2 (a), Code of Alabama 1975

The powers granted herein to provide for the public welfare, health, and safety of its citizens shall only include the following:

(1) Abatement of weeds as a public nuisance as defined in Section 11-67-60.
(2) Subject to the provisions of Section 6-5-127, control of animals and animal nuisances.
(3) Control of litter as defined in subsection (b) of Section 13A-7-29, or rubbish as defined in subdivision (4) of Section 22-27-2.
(4) Junkyard control of areas which create a public nuisance because of an accumulation of items described in the definition of a junkyard under Section 11-80-10.
(5) Subject to the provisions of Section 6-5-127, abatement of noise, unsanitary sewage, or pollution creating a public nuisance as defined in Sections 6-5-120 and 6-5-121.

Section 13A-7-29 (b), Code of Alabama 1975

“Litter” means rubbish, refuse, waste material, garbage, dead animals or fowl, offal, paper, glass, cans, bottles, trash, scrap metal, debris, or any foreign substance of whatever kind and description, and whether or not it is of value. Any agricultural product in its natural state that is unintentionally deposited on a public highway, road, street, or public right-of-way shall not be deemed litter for purposes of this section or Section 32-5-76. Any other law or ordinance to the contrary notwithstanding, the unintentional depositing of an agricultural product in its natural state on a public highway, road, street, or right-of-way shall not constitute unlawful littering or any similarly prohibited activity.

Section 22-27-2, Code of Alabama 1975

RUBBISH. Nonputrescible solid wastes, excluding ashes, consisting of both combustible and noncombustible wastes. Combustible rubbish includes paper, rags, cartons, wood, furniture, rubber, plastics, yard trimmings, leaves, and similar materials. Noncombustible rubbish includes glass, crockery, metal cans, metal furniture, and like materials which will not burn at ordinary incinerator temperatures, not less than 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit.

Section 22-27-2 (33), Code of Alabama 1975

SOLID WASTE. Any garbage, rubbish, construction or demolition debris, ash, or sludge from a waste treatment facility, water supply plant, or air pollution control facility, and any other discarded materials, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, or agricultural operations or community activities, or materials intended for or capable of recycling, but which have not been diverted or removed from the solid waste stream. The term “solid waste” does not include recovered materials, solid or dissolved materials in domestic sewage, solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows, or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, or the Alabama Waste Pollution Control Act, as amended; or source, special, nuclear, or by-product materials as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended. Also excluded from this definition are land applications of crop residues, animal manure, and ash resulting exclusively from the combustion of wood during accepted agricultural operations, waste from silvicultural operations, or refuse as defined and regulated pursuant to the Alabama Surface Mining Act of 1969, Article 1, commencing with Section 9-16-1, of Chapter 16 of Title 9.