Eugene, OR Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- EC 6.805, Littering
- Prohibited
- Depositing rubbish, garbage, or debris off designated sites
- Applies to
- Public or private property citywide
- Penalty
- Up to $200 per EC 6.992 general penalty
- Enforcement
- Eugene police and code compliance staff
- Code history
- Renumbered from 6.505 by Ordinance 19939, 1993
Summary
Eugene's littering ordinance, EC 6.805, bars throwing or depositing garbage, rubbish, filth, or debris on public or private property outside places the city council has designated for disposal. A violation falls to the Chapter 6 general penalty, EC 6.992: a fine of up to $200, since littering carries no penalty of its own.
No person shall throw or deposit or cause to be thrown or deposited any glass, metal, broken ware, dirt, timber, brush, rubbish, garbage, filth, or litter on public or private property except in such places as may be designated by the council. (EC 6.805) ... Violation of any other section in this chapter is punishable by fine not to exceed $200.00. (EC 6.992)
Official source re-checked September 8, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: current through Ordinance 20739, passed June 8, 2026).
Full Breakdown
805 states flatly that no person shall throw, deposit, or cause to be thrown or deposited any glass, metal, broken ware, dirt, timber, brush, rubbish, garbage, filth, or litter on public or private property, except in places the city council has designated for that purpose. 805 by Ordinance No. 19939 in 1993; the operative language hasn't changed since. Because Eugene's code treats illegal dumping as a littering offense rather than carving out a separate 'dumping' crime, the same section covers everything from a bag of household trash left on a vacant lot to construction debris dumped along a roadside.
992: a fine not to exceed $200 for violating any Chapter 6 section that doesn't carry its own specified penalty. 805, and litter that accumulates on undeveloped land can separately support a public-nuisance abatement action under the obnoxious-vegetation provisions of the same chapter. There's no minimum dollar threshold or waste-volume cutoff that changes the charge, unlike some cities that scale penalties to load size; a single discarded bag and a truckload dumped along a roadside are charged under the identical section.
Violations & Fines
A first EC 6.805 citation is punishable by up to $200 under the Chapter 6 general penalty at EC 6.992, issued by Eugene police or code enforcement staff. There's no escalating fine schedule written into the littering section itself, unlike some other Chapter 6 offenses that ramp up penalties for repeat violations, so each dumping incident is charged and fined independently at the same $200 ceiling.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is dumping trash on someone else's property illegal in Eugene?
What's the fine for illegal dumping in Eugene?
Who enforces Eugene's littering ordinance?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Eugene
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