Grant County, WI Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Illegal dumping in Grant County is reached by three chapters adopted by the County Board of Supervisors. The main provision is § 206-12 in the Peace and Good Order chapter. It prohibits any person from depositing or discharging any solid waste on or along any highway, in any waters of the state, on the ice of any waters of the state or on any other public or private property. It also bars permitting solid waste to be thrown from a vehicle the person operates, and failing to remove within 30 days, or otherwise abandoning, any automobile, boat or other vehicle in the waters of the state. A fourth clause requires an aircraft owner to remove a crashed aircraft from state waters within 30 days of the crash or of the National Transportation Safety Board authorization to remove it.

The nuisance chapter adds an enforcement route. Section 191-5F makes "open dumps" a public health nuisance: the unauthorized disposal of any waste materials on private or public lands in a manner not in compliance with Wisconsin Statutes or regulations. The property owner is responsible under § 191-4 for abating a nuisance on the property. If an abatement order is ignored, Grant County Health Department staff can enter, clean up, and recover the cost by lawsuit or as a special tax assessment on the property.

County parks have a stricter local rule. Section 200-11A bars leaving paper, cans, bottles or other rubbish in a park except in the receptacles provided, and § 200-11B bars depositing or dumping earth, rubbish, manure, garbage, building material or any substance of any kind in or upon the waters, grounds or roadways of any park without written permission of the Park Commission.

Any Grant County law enforcement officer can issue a citation for littering, and the citation must contain the information required by § 345.11, Wis. Stats. (§ 206-17B). The District Attorney's office prosecutes (§ 206-17A).