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Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1220 · Article 33. Miscellaneous Rules

Throwing refuse on highways and adjacent lands prohibited

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — Law content up to date as of October 30, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)

§ 1220. Throwing refuse on highways and adjacent lands prohibited. (a) No person shall throw, dump, deposit or place, or cause to be thrown, dumped, deposited or placed upon any highway, or within the limits of the right of way of such highway, or upon private lands adjacent thereto, any refuse, trash, garbage, rubbish, litter or any nauseous or offensive matter.

(b) Nothing herein contained shall be construed as prohibiting the use in a reasonable manner of ashes, sand, salt or other material for the purpose of reducing the hazard of, or providing traction on snow, ice or sleet.

(b-1) Nothing herein contained shall be construed as prohibiting the use of any highway or private lands adjacent thereto for the transport or transit of agricultural trucks, machines or implements or dairy or domestic animals or agricultural stock with any accompanying reasonable or unavoidable deposit of nauseous or offensive matter.

(c) A violation of the provisions of subdivision (a) of this section shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed three hundred fifty dollars and/or a requirement to perform services for a public or not-for-profit corporation, association, institution or agency not to exceed ten hours and for any second or subsequent violation by a fine not to exceed seven hundred dollars and/or a requirement to perform services for a public or not-for-profit corporation, association, institution or agency not to exceed fifteen hours.

Source of truth

Edition
Law content up to date as of October 30, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
Official file
https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/VAT1220
Text hash
sha256 31d046fa0112528735915cea6454d9377897d9b317a9da4d19a136e266262b74
Composed by
gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.