Gary, IN Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Section 34-61(b) makes it unlawful for any person to place, dump or discharge garbage, trash or other waste materials on public or private property in the city, except at locations the board of public works and safety has established. The prohibition sits alongside § 34-61(a), which confines all garbage the city itself collects to disposal areas set under IC 36-9-30-35 and administered by rules the street commissioner writes, and bars burying garbage or using it as fill on private property without the written approval of the department of health.

The illegal-dumping ban carries one carved-out exception: it does not stop an owner from having dirt, sand and gravel, free of any garbage or rubbish, deposited on private property at the owner's own request to raise the grade of the lot or an unimproved part of it. Related sections reinforce the same policy: § 34-55 separately makes it unlawful to scatter or disturb the contents of any container set out for collection, and § 34-62 bars throwing manure, slops or unwholesome liquid into any street, alley, sidewalk, gutter or lot.

Enforcement runs through the city's code officers and the board of public works and safety, which can also order removal of noncomplying containers as rubbish after five days' notice under § 34-52(d). Because dumping is treated as a Code violation rather than a separate criminal statute, it is charged and fined under the citywide general penalty provision rather than a dumping-specific fine schedule.