Commerce City, CO Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Section 6-2003(c) of the Commerce City Revised Municipal Code makes it unlawful to put, place or dump garbage, trash or waste of any kind on another person's property, including in, on, under or around that person's trash container. The one exception is written permission: a person may deposit waste in someone else's container if the container's owner or occupant has agreed to it in writing. The section separately exempts public waste receptacles, but only for reasonable, ordinary use; dumping unreasonable amounts of trash in a public container is itself a violation unless the container is specifically marked to accept that volume.

Because Section 6-1003 makes chapter 6 nuisance violations civil infractions by default, the city need only prove an illegal-dumping case by a preponderance of the evidence before the Commerce City Municipal Court or through the city's administrative hearing process, not beyond a reasonable doubt, unless the defendant faces incarceration for multiple civil infractions. Nuisances such as dumped waste found on a street, alley, sidewalk, right-of-way or other public property can be abated by the city without any prior notice or hearing under Section 6-1004(a); a peace officer may also issue a summons at the same time.

The city recovers its abatement costs from the responsible party, plus a fifteen percent administrative fee, using the collection procedure set out in Section 3-2103.