It shall be the purpose of this article to regulate those aspects of the use of land which because of their special nature could, if unregulated, create conditions which would be detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of the residents of the City and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. These aspects are dumps, refuse disposals, wastepaper or rag establishments, junkyards, discarded items and mausoleums.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
DUMP
Any area or place in or on which refuse has been or will be deposited.
JUNKYARD
Any place used principally for the handling for sale or resale of used or salvaged metal, metal products or building material, and businesses principally used for or engaged in the scrapping or dismantling of motor vehicles. The term includes scrap processing, reclaiming, recycling and salvaging operations.
MAUSOLEUM
A vault or grave for the dead designed or intended to accommodate more than two bodies.
PRIVATE DUMP
A dump on land owned or leased by any person and used only by such person principally as a place for disposition of refuse from his own business, industry or other operations.
PUBLIC DUMP
A dump where dumping is permitted by the private owner or private lessee or private owner's agent with or without payment of a fee or charge for the privilege of dumping thereon.
REFUSE
Any material commonly considered solid or liquid garbage and includes all such waste material which is laid aside by an owner who is not in the business of salvaging, processing or recycling scrap.
SCRAP
Leftover natural discarded material or any other material suitable for salvage, sale or reprocessing.
WASTE PAPER OR RAG ESTABLISHMENT
Any place used principally for the handling for sale or resale of used or salvaged paper or rags.
No person shall operate or maintain a private or public dump in the City. However, this provision shall not be interpreted so as to prohibit the filling of holes or other depressions with earth or other noncombustible materials not classified as refuse. All such existing dumps shall be closed within 30 days of the effective date of this chapter.
A. 
The only methods of refuse disposal permitted shall be sanitary landfill, incineration or other methods expressly approved by the Department of Health or Department of Environmental Protection of the commonwealth. Any landfill operation shall have a daily coverage of a minimum of two feet of compacted earth at final grade. If the covering is to take place daily with additional dumping to follow the next day, a minimum coverage of six inches of compact earth shall be required.
B. 
The regulation and control of refuse (garbage, ashes and rubbish) shall be subject to Chapter 500, Solid Waste; Recycling, Article II, of the Code of the City of Easton.
C. 
The management of all solid waste treatment within the City shall be subject to the Pennsylvania Solid Waste Management Act, as amended, and Title 25, Pennsylvania Code, Chapter 75, as amended.
[Amended 4-22-1987 by Ord. No. 2889]
No person shall discard, place, sweep or throw any paper, debris, grass clippings, street or sidewalk sweepings, garbage, ashes or other waste or refuse material or other material commonly known as litter on, into or along any of the gutters, streets, highways, alleys, courts or sidewalks or into the yards or porches of dwellings or other buildings within the City.
A. 
Permits. Applications for permits shall be on forms provided by the Board which shall set forth the name, residence and business address of the applicant, legal description of premises, whether applicant owns or leases premises and such other pertinent information as the Board shall require.
B. 
Required. No person shall operate or maintain a wastepaper or rag establishment or junkyard without obtaining a permit from the Board. A permit will not be issued to any person until the Public Officer has inspected and approved the establishment. The permit shall at all times be kept posted prominently on the premises. A permit shall be required within six months of the effective date of this chapter and annually thereafter on the due date of the first six months.
C. 
Fee for inspection. Each applicant at the time of applying for a permit shall pay an annual fee as specified in Chapter 285, Fees, for inspection services.
[Amended 2-11-2009 by Ord. No. 5179]
D. 
Regulations. No wastepaper or rag establishment or junkyard shall be eligible for an annual permit unless it complies with the following regulations:
(1) 
The premises shall be maintained wholly within an enclosed roofed-over building, or be screened on all sides by a solid fence not less than eight feet in height, or by a hedge of evergreens or other hardy vegetation approved by the Board, planted not further than 18 inches apart and maintained so as to be not less than eight feet in height; it being understood, however, that such hedge of evergreens or other vegetation, when planted, need not be more than four feet in height. Exits or entrances shall be equipped with gates so as to render the area inaccessible except by authorized persons.
(2) 
All goods, articles, merchandise or vehicles shall be stored and kept within the enclosed fence or building above described and not upon the sidewalk, street or any part thereof. No materials shall be stored to a height which exceeds that of the enclosed fence above described.
(3) 
No burning shall be permitted, and the piling or placing of materials upon the premises shall be done in such manner as not to create a fire hazard and shall be subject to approval of the Fire Inspector of the City.
(4) 
No person shall deposit or leave any abandoned or unlicensed automobile, truck or other automotive equipment or any part thereof, or other junk, scrap, refuse or salvaged materials in open fields or upon other unfenced private property without first obtaining the permission of the Board and of the owner of such property.
(5) 
All operation of such establishments or junkyards shall be conducted in order to prevent the harborage or breeding of rodents and vermin.
(6) 
All operators of junkyards shall, immediately upon receipt, drain all engine oil and gasoline from vehicles placed in the yard for scrapping or repair. All engine oil, gasoline and other flammable liquids shall be collected and stored in appropriate containers with tight lids and shall not be permitted to be absorbed into the ground.
(7) 
Any or all traces of blood or other human materials shall be immediately removed from all wrecked vehicles upon acceptance of the vehicle by the operator of the junkyard.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former Article 1142, Noise Quality, which previously followed this section, was repealed 12-23-1992 by Ord. No. 3235A. See now Ch. 376, Noise.