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Environmental Enforcement

Charleston County's Environmental Management Department has a full time Environmental Enforcement Officer responsible for attending to violations of three County Ordinances pertaining to beautification, illegal dumping and scavenging. Violations of these ordinances shall be considered a misdemeanor and are punishable applying fines and/or community service. It is the attitude of Charleston County to work with the citizens toward abatement rather than pursue legal action.

The public is encouraged to report any complaints by calling (843)202-7200 or emailing planning@charlestoncounty.org.

Beautification

County Ordinance #1227 (adopted 8-13-2002)
Section 10-4 Declaration of Nuisance - Weeds and other rank vegetation or solid waste allowed to accumulate and remain on lots may be deemed and declared to be a public nuisance (detrimental to the health and welfare of the community) in the judgment of any duly appointed County Code Enforcement Officer.

Section 10-2 Declaration of Nuisance - It shall be unlawful for any owner of an occupied lot to permit on that lot the accumulation of SOLID WASTE (refuse, rubbish, trash, garbage, offal, junk, building materials, demolition materials, scrap, fallen trees, and any other matter deleterious to good health and public sanitation). Also foul, offensive or nauseous odors or stenches. It is also unlawful to allow a lot to become overgrown with weeds and grass to such extent that rodent harborage and mosquito breeding may occur.

Illegal Dumping

County Ordinance #1115, Section 5-A
No person shall dump, throw, drop, deposit, discard or otherwise dispose of litter or other solid waste upon any public or private property in the County or in the waters of the County whether from a vehicle or otherwise.

Scavenging

County Ordinance #1039, Section 10-28
It shall be unlawful for any person to rummage through, remove, salvage items from or otherwise scavenge from or tamper with any solid waste container or recycle bin. The scattering of any of the contents of any solid waste container or recycle bin is also prohibited.

Sec. 10-97. Enforcement.
(a) The provisions of this article shall be enforced by the duly authorized law and code enforcement officers of the county including, but not limited to, the county litter control officers and all law enforcement officers and deputies employed by the sheriff's office (collectively all officers described above are hereinafter referred to as "enforcement officers").

(b) County enforcement officers shall be authorized and required to cause the inspection of any public or private property within the unincorporated limits of the county and within the county jurisdictional limits on the waterways whenever it shall be necessary to enforce the provisions of this article.

Littering From Moving Vehicles

Littering from moving vehicles should be reported to local law enforcement or Palmetto Pride Litter Busters at (877)754-8837.

Before & After

The before and after pictures below show properties that had been reported as a nuisance and then cleaned up with the assistance of Environmental Enforcement.

Environmental Enforcement

Beautification

Illegal Dumping

Scavenging

Littering From Moving Vehicles

Before & After

Before

After

Municipalities

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