Clovis, CA Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

13(a) bars throwing or depositing any waste matter, other than permitted building materials, on a vacant lot, street, alley, gutter, highway, park, or other public place, and separately bars keeping garbage, rubbish, or waste matter anywhere except as this chapter allows. Subsection (b) adds a narrower rule: it's unlawful to put your garbage or rubbish into a container belonging to, or being paid for by, someone else, closing off the workaround of using a neighbor's or business's paid container. Subsection (c) extends liability to vehicle and trailer owners: to the extent the law allows, an owner is liable for illegal dumping done with their vehicle or trailer regardless of whether they actually knew, or should have known, it would be used that way, so lending a truck doesn't avoid responsibility if it gets used to dump.

The City added that vehicle-owner liability language and updated the penalty structure by Ordinance 23-07, effective October 5, 2023. Subsection (d) stacks two remedies: a misdemeanor charge and, independently, an administrative citation of up to $1,000, and unlike many Code infraction schedules that step up fines for repeat offenses, this section caps the administrative citation at $1,000 for the first violation and for every violation after it.