The location of commercial dumpsters and portable, self-contained storage units is regulated by law. A special hotline has been established for you to alert police to problems with commercial dumpsters and storage units in your neighborhood.
- Collect the name of the company supplying the unit and the contact information listed on the container
- Call the police hotline at 703-280-0583
- Leave the location of the container and the contact information as requested on the recorded voice mail
- A police investigator will respond to the reported location.
- If the investigator determines that the container is in a location that creates a traffic hazard, it will be removed from the location immediately.
- The container will be purged of its contents and stored by the Fairfax County Police Department.
- If the container is not deemed to be a traffic hazard, but is in violation of Virginia State Code Section 15.2-2018, the owner of the container, not the homeowner, will be notified of the violation and will have four working days to remove it.
- If the container is not removed within the allotted four-day period, the police department will have it removed.
- In both scenarios, the removal and storage costs will be absorbed by the owner of the container, not the homeowner.
Virginia State Code§ 15.2-2018. Use of certain public property without consent or franchise.
Notwithstanding the provisions of § 15.2-2000 A, any person or corporation, except a public service corporation, that occupies or uses any streets, avenues, parks, bridges or any other public places or public property or any public easement of a county, in a manner not permitted to the general public, without having first obtained the consent of the governing body of such county or a franchise therefor, shall be guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor. Each day's continuance thereof shall be a separate offense. Such occupancy or use shall be deemed a nuisance. The court trying the case may cause the nuisance to be abated and commit the offenders and all their agents and employees engaged in such offenses to jail until the order of the court is obeyed.
(1983, c. 613, § 15.1-512.1; 1997, c. 587.)