Corvallis, OR Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Corvallis Municipal Code Section 4.01.030 flatly bans dumping: it is unlawful for any person to dump, collect, remove, or otherwise accumulate or dispose of solid waste upon any street, alley, public place, or private property within the City. Section 4.01.090 adds a second, narrower prohibition aimed at receptacle misuse: no one may pull the lid off, or otherwise interfere with, a solid waste receptacle to dump their own household or business waste into a public, semipublic, or another person's private receptacle without the owner's consent, and no one may dump waste into a public or semipublic receptacle unless the waste was generated in the area that receptacle is meant to serve.

Both sections trace back to Ordinance 58-60 from 1958 and were most recently amended by Ordinance 2020-17 in September 2020. The City Manager supervises solid waste hauling and disposal under Section 4.01.020 and can arbitrate disputes or suspend a franchise hauler's authorization for noncompliance. Because Chapter 4.01 sets a single penalty scheme, a dumping violation under either section is charged the same way: a Class A Misdemeanor under Section 4.01.140, with the Corvallis Municipal Court authorized to impose a fine up to $2,500, imprisonment up to one year, or both.

Illegal dumping complaints in Corvallis are handled through Community Development code enforcement, which can also pursue nuisance abatement separately under Chapter 5.04 for waste left to accumulate on private property.