Fitchburg, WI Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Section 41-131 is the core rule: no person may dump, dispose of, deposit, or store refuse or recyclables in the city outside of a licensed sanitary landfill facility, on either private or public land, except as separately allowed by the recycling separation rules in section 41-82 or the sanitary sewer provisions in section 70-88. That prohibition is backed up on the property-owner side by section 41-130, which makes it unlawful for anyone owning, controlling, or occupying real estate in the city to permit or allow dumping of garbage, ashes, rubbish, or other waste on that land without a permit granted by the common council, and by section 41-132, which requires a landowner's written consent, filed with the common council, before anyone deposits garbage or other substances on private property.

Construction and demolition sites get their own rule in section 41-134: no landowner may let debris such as rocks, trees, brush, stumps, or waste building material sit on the surface of the land for more than 15 days unless the accumulation relates to construction activity that the city building inspector or city engineer has approved for that site. Together these sections put the burden on both the person dumping and the landowner who allows it, closing off the loophole of a property owner simply looking the other way while illegal dumping happens on their land.