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Depositing waste and other material on highway, property or waters - 75 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3709

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     § 3709.  Depositing waste and other material on highway,
                property or waters.
        (a)  General rule.--No person shall throw or deposit, upon
     any highway, or upon any other public or private property
     without the consent of the owner thereof or into or on the
     waters of this Commonwealth from a vehicle, any waste paper,
     sweepings, ashes, household waste, glass, metal, refuse or
     rubbish, or any dangerous or detrimental substance.
        (b)  Removal of deposited material.--
            (1)  Any person who drops, or permits to be dropped or
        thrown, upon any highway, or upon any other public or private
        property without the consent of the owner thereof or into or
        on any waters of this Commonwealth from a vehicle, any waste
        paper, sweepings, ashes, household waste, glass, metal,
        refuse or rubbish, or any dangerous or detrimental substance
        shall immediately remove the same or cause it to be removed.
            (2)  For the purposes of this subsection a "person who
        permits to be dropped or thrown" from a vehicle any of the
        items described in paragraph (1) shall include the driver of
        the vehicle and the registrant of any vehicle registered in
        this Commonwealth from which any of the items are dropped or
        thrown, either by the registrant or any person operating, in
        possession of or present within the vehicle with the
        permission of the registrant, regardless of the registrant's
        intent or lack of knowledge with respect to the disposal of
        such items in violation of this section where the registrant
        of the vehicle does not, with reasonable certainty, identify
        the driver of the vehicle at the time the violation occurred.
        (c)  Removal of material following accident.--Any person
     removing a wrecked, damaged or disabled vehicle from a highway
     shall remove from the highway or neutralize any glass, oil or
     other injurious substance resulting from the accident or
     disablement.
        (d)  Penalty.--Any person violating any of the provisions of
     subsection (a) or (b) commits a summary offense and shall, upon
     conviction, be sentenced to either or both of the following:
            (1)  To pay a fine of not more than:
                (i)  $900 for a violation which occurs in an easement
            purchased under the program established by section 14.1
            of the act of June 30, 1981 (P.L.128, No.43), known as
            the Agricultural Area Security Law;
                (ii)  $600 for a violation which occurs in an
            agricultural security area as defined in section 3 of the
            Agricultural Area Security Law; or
                (iii)  $300 for a violation which occurs anywhere
            else.
            (2)  Except where infirmity or age or other circumstance
        would create a hardship, be directed by the court in which
        conviction is obtained to pick up and remove litter from
        public property or private property, or both, with prior
        permission of the legal owner. If the person has no prior
        record of convictions for violation of this section, he may
        be sentenced to pick up and remove litter for not less than
        eight hours nor more than 16 hours. Upon a second conviction,
        the person may be sentenced to pick up and remove litter for
        not less than 16 hours and not more than 32 hours. Upon third
        and subsequent convictions, he may be sentenced to pick up
        and remove litter for not less than 40 hours and not more
        than 80 hours. The court shall schedule the time to be spent
        on such activities in such a manner that it does not
        interfere with the person's employment and does not interfere
        substantially with the person's family responsibilities or
        religious obligations.
        (e)  Disposition of fines, etc.--Revenue from the collection
     of fines and bail forfeitures in the course of enforcement of
     this section shall be distributed in the following manner:
            (1)  One-half shall be distributed to the agency or local
        government unit which brought the action to enforce this
        section and may be used to defray the expenses of enforcing
        this section, at the option of the agency or local government
        unit.
            (2)  One-half shall be allocated to the department for
        Statewide public education and awareness programs to promote
        litter control and recycling and awareness of the provisions
        of this section.
     (Mar. 27, 1986, P.L.71, No.24, eff. July 1, 1986; June 22, 2001,
     P.L.411, No.33, eff. 60 days)

        2001 Amendment.  Act 33 amended subsec. (d) intro. par. and
     (1).
        1986 Amendment.  Act 24 amended the section heading and
     subsecs. (a), (b) and (d) and added subsec. (e).
        Cross References.  Section 3709 is referred to in sections
     1317, 1520 of this title.

Last modified: November 27, 2007