Columbus, IN Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Section 8.24.280 of the Columbus Municipal Code, adopted by the Common Council of the City of Columbus in Bartholomew County, Indiana, is the dumping rule for the whole city. Subsection A says no person may throw, place or deposit solid waste in any street or other place, or on any public or private property, except in proper city-owned or city-approved containers. Other subsections bar dumping into someone else's container or onto someone else's property without the owner's consent, upsetting the contents of a container onto a street, sidewalk or public place, removing set-out material from a container at the curb, and hauling a load that is not covered and secured so that nothing leaks or blows out.

The enforcement path in subsection F starts with paperwork, not a ticket. The city services manager sends a 24-hour written notice to resolve the situation, and the notice goes to both the property owner and the responsible party. If the condition is still there when the 24 hours end, the sanitation department has the right to rectify it itself. The clean-up fee reimburses manpower and equipment as certified by the city services manager, and it can never be less than $50 or more than $250. The schedule of clean-up fees sits in rules the Board of Public Works and Safety adopts under § 8.24.020B.

Payment is due to the office of the city controller within ten days. A fee left unpaid after ten days triggers an ordinance violation filed by the city attorney in a court of competent jurisdiction, with a fine of $50 plus the cost of clean-up. Each later violation by the same property owner or responsible party within a twelve-month period raises the fine in increments of $50, plus clean-up costs, court costs and reasonable attorney fees. The code defines a responsible party as the person held accountable for the illegal placement of waste in recycling or city-owned or city-approved containers.