The municipality is authorized to enact comprehensive rules and regulations
restricting the hours and days of municipal solid waste and/or recyclable
materials collection as required by federal, commonwealth, and Bucks
County law or regulation and to serve the overall interests of the
municipality, its residents, and its commercial enterprises, including
the following:
Specifying the responsibilities and obligations of residential,
institutional, and commercial property operators for the on-premises
storage, and source separation of municipal solid waste and/or recyclable
materials and their handling in support of collection services.
Obtaining commercially available and equitably priced services
and the awarding and administration of contracts for the collection,
handling, and transportation of municipal solid waste and/or recyclable
materials.
Specifying the residential, institutional, and commercial property
collection services to be provided and the responsibilities and obligations
of collectors and property operators with respect to those services.
Authorizing municipal enforcement of this article, amending
the Middletown Township Code, this article, and the rules and regulations
adopted in furtherance thereof and to specify penalties and remedies
for noncompliance.
In order to be effective, any rules and regulations adopted in furtherance
of this article or any amendments thereto must be approved at a public
meeting, which said public meeting shall be advertised in accordance
with the requirements imposed upon the municipality by the Second
Class Township Code related to the adoption of Township ordinances.
No authorized collector which collects or removes municipal solid
waste or recyclable materials shall be permitted to collect and/or
remove municipal solid waste or recyclable material after 8:00 p.m.
or prior to 6:00 a.m. on weekdays or prior to 6:00 a.m. on weekends
unless otherwise fixed by contract between the authorized collector
and the municipality.
No commercial, institutional property, or property subdivisions that
are members of an HOA within the municipality, which contracts with
a private or licensed collector to remove municipal solid waste or
recyclable materials shall authorize a private or licensed collector
to collect and/or remove municipal solid waste or recyclable material
from commercial, institutional, or residential properties after 8:00
p.m. or prior to 6:00 a.m. on weekdays or prior to 6:00 a.m. on weekends.
Nothing herein shall be deemed to prohibit any person not regularly
engaged in the business of collecting municipal solid waste or recyclable
materials from hauling one's own municipal solid waste or recyclable
materials on an irregular and unscheduled basis to an authorized disposal
facility.
Nothing contained herein shall prohibit a farm property from carrying
out the normal activities of its farming operation, including composting
and spreading of manure or other farm-produced agricultural wastes.
The Township Manager or his/her designee shall have the ability to grant waivers to the time limitations outlined in § 418-503 of this article in cases of extreme heat or pending inclement weather or under other circumstances that may arise.
Any action by any authorized, private, or licensed collector that violates or does not comply with any provision of this article or any rule or regulation thereof and such action constitutes an offense that shall subject the authorized, private, or licensed collector to a fine not to exceed $1,000, plus costs of prosecution, including reasonable attorneys' fees. Every time a collector violates § 418-503 of this article it shall constitute a separate and distinct offense. If the defendant neither pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the municipality may enforce the judgment pursuant to the applicable Rules of Civil Procedure.
Any owner or occupant of any commercial, institutional property,
or property subdivisions that are members of an HOA within the municipality,
who permits the removal, of municipal solid waste or recyclable materials
from such property in the municipality, or who knowingly permits the
violation of any term, condition, or provision of this article by
any collector shall commit a violation of this article and shall,
upon conviction thereof, be subject to a fine not to exceed $1,000,
plus costs of prosecution, including reasonable attorneys' fees. Each
day that a violation continues under this article shall constitute
a separate offense, punishable as provided hereunder.
The municipality may also require the owner or occupant of a property
to remove any accumulation of municipal solid waste or recyclable
materials and, should said person fail, following written notice,
to remove such municipal solid waste or recyclable materials within
the time frame specified in the regulations, the municipality may
cause such waste or materials to be collected and disposed of, with
all costs for such actions being the responsibility of the responsible
property operator, as provided by law.
This article shall be subject to all applicable federal, state, county
and local laws, ordinances, rules and regulations, including the rules
and regulations as set forth by the PA DEP.