Bradenton, FL Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

The prohibition in Code § 38-3(a) covers the items it lists: refuse, paper, trash, glass, nails, tacks, wire, bottles, cans, yard trash, garbage, containers, litter and other debris. It reaches any river, stream, channel, ditch, canal or creek, and any water system that regularly or periodically carries surface water runoff, so a ditch that carries water only during rain falls within the wording. Anyone who deposits those items in such a water system has a separate duty to remove them or cause their removal immediately.

Subsection (b) makes a violation unlawful and punishable under § 1-15. Section 1-15(a) sets a fine of not more than $500.00, imprisonment not exceeding 60 days, or both, and each day a violation continues is a separate offense. Section 1-15(b) adds that a condition kept in violation is a public nuisance the city can abate. Under Chapter 2, the city can also use a citation, a summons or a notice to appear, an injunction, a civil action for damages or referral to the code enforcement board (§ 2-291(a)).

Subsection (c) shifts the cost of litigation: if the city decides it needs civil action to enforce the section, the violator is responsible for all court costs and attorney fees the city incurs, including the costs of any appeal.

Other sections address related conduct. Under § 38-113(c), an owner or lessee of developed property who removes hedges, tree trimmings, boxes or household items must cut them into lengths no longer than four feet and set them at the edge of the street in front of the property for regular sanitation pickup. Items too large for the trucks, such as mattresses, pieces of furniture or old refrigerators from vacant lots, must be removed by an outside company or organization within ten days, or the owner or lessee is cited by the planning and development department. Section 70-192 separately makes it unlawful to discharge any wastes into the city's municipal separate storm sewer system.