Bowling Green, KY Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Sec. 20-1.04(a) of the Bowling Green Code of Ordinances, within the city's Solid Waste Collection chapter, bars anyone from delivering solid waste to or upon private property or from maintaining a dump ground, public or private, for depositing solid waste of any kind. A companion clause, Sec. 20-1.04(b), separately bars disposing of solid waste anywhere in or outside the city limits except at a properly permitted landfill site, closing off backyard burial or dumping on vacant lots as an alternative to franchised collection. The chapter, retitled from Refuse Collection to Solid Waste Collection by Ord.

BG2014-38 in December 2014 and most recently amended by Ord. BG2025-22, works alongside Sec. 20-1.02, which reserves residential collection and recycling to Warren County's designated franchisee and makes it unlawful for private scavengers or pushcart operators to haul or dispose of solid waste, residential recyclables or yard waste. Because collection runs through the county franchise rather than a City department, illegal dumping complaints in Bowling Green go to Neighborhood and Community Services code enforcement, which issues a notice of violation or citation under the procedures in Chapter 2 of the Code before a case reaches the Code Enforcement Board.

Sec. 20-1.05 sets the penalty: a violator is guilty of a violation and, upon conviction, faces a fine not to exceed the maximum penalty authorized by law, with each additional day the dumping or dump ground remains a new and separate offense, so a single unaddressed pile can generate repeated citations rather than one flat fine.