Bonita Springs, FL Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Chapter 20, Article IV of the city code, adopted as Ord. No. 01-11 on 8-1-2001, is the City of Bonita Springs litter article. It does not use the word dumping; it reaches the conduct through Section 20-91, which bars throwing or deposit of litter in any manner or amount upon any street, alley, sidewalk, lake, canal, beach, river and tributary, or other public place within the city. The only lawful destinations are public receptacles, authorized private receptacles for collection, and official city or county landfills.

The definitions in Section 20-90 widen the reach. Litter takes its meaning from F.S. ch. 403. Refuse covers garbage, rubbish, ashes, street cleanings, dead animals, abandoned automobiles and solid market and industrial wastes. Rubbish includes yard clippings, leaves, all horticulture debris, wood and glass. A public place is any street, sidewalk, boulevard, alley or other public way and any public park, square, space, ground or building.

Related sections close the common workarounds. Section 20-92 bars placing litter in receptacles so that wind can carry it onto a street, sidewalk, public place or private property. Section 20-93 bars sweeping litter from a building, lot, sidewalk or driveway into a gutter, street or other public place. Section 20-94 covers drivers and passengers who throw litter from a vehicle onto a street, public place or private property. Section 20-95 covers trucks loaded so that the load or contents can blow onto a street, alley or public place.

Under Section 20-99 a law enforcement officer, code enforcement officer or enforcement agency can issue a citation when personal investigation gives reasonable cause to believe a civil infraction occurred. Inside city parks, Section 28-43(b) separately bars anyone from bringing in or dumping, depositing or leaving bottles, broken glass, ashes, paper, boxes, cans, dirt, rubbish, waste, garbage, refuse or other trash such as debris from beach raking.