Fountain Valley, CA Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Section 6.04.010 of the Fountain Valley Municipal Code covers any person, firm, copartnership or corporation, and any kind of trash, refuse, vegetable trimmings or rubbish dumped on private or public property anywhere in the City of Fountain Valley. The only carve-out is for trimmings from vegetables grown on the same property. Section 6.04.020 adds detail: vegetable trimmings can be spread on private property in a continuous layer if they are plowed or disced under within six days, and no trimmings can go on ground that received trimmings in the preceding three months.

The penalty in § 6.04.030 counts each separate act of dumping, placing or depositing as its own offense, so repeated dumping produces multiple counts. Chapter 12.08 adds park-specific rules: § 12.08.040 bars depositing trash, debris, animal carcasses or other material on park grounds except in proper receptacles, and § 12.08.050 bars bringing material into a park to dump it there when the material was accumulated outside the park. Ordinary trash generated through park use can still go in the proper receptacles.

The chapter also sits under the city's general enforcement scheme. Chapter 1.13 lets an enforcement official issue an administrative citation for any code violation, with fines up to $100, $200 and $500 for a first, second and additional violation within one year, and § 1.16.010 lets a prosecutor charge a misdemeanor as an infraction at the prosecutor's discretion.