Burlington, WI Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

City Code Chapter 200, Littering, makes it unlawful under § 200-2A for any person to throw, discard, place or deposit litter in any manner or amount on public or private property within the City except in containers or areas lawfully provided for that purpose. Litter is defined in § 200-1 as any quantity of uncontainerized paper, metal, plastic, glass or miscellaneous solid waste classed as trash, debris, rubbish, refuse, garbage or junk, and the chapter covers dumping on both private property, meaning yards, driveways and vacant lots, and public property, meaning streets, alleys, parks, sidewalks, catch basins and municipal waterways.

Section 200-2B lets the City presume the registered owner of a vehicle committed a dumping violation traced to that vehicle. Related sections extend the prohibition: § 200-3 requires loose cargo hauled through the City to be covered and secured so it cannot spill litter onto public or private property, § 200-4 requires containers and daily cleanup at loading and unloading sites, and § 200-5 bars any owner, agent or contractor from letting litter accumulate at a construction or demolition site before, during or after the project.

Property owners also carry an affirmative duty under § 200-8 to keep their land, abutting sidewalks and abutting alleys free of litter; if an owner ignores a citation, the Department of Public Works can clean the site after 10 days' written notice and bill the cost to the owner, adding it to the tax roll if unpaid after 30 days.