Harrisburg, PA Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Section 9-309.2 of the Harrisburg Codified Ordinances bars any person from throwing, dropping, depositing or dumping waste on public or private property in the City of Harrisburg unless the site is licensed through the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to receive municipal waste. A second sentence bars throwing, dropping, depositing or otherwise disbursing any municipal waste in any stream or other body of water in the City.

The ordinance classifies the offense as a Category 1 violation, a nontraffic summary citation. Section 9-311.4B sets the penalty at a fine of $1,000, plus costs, or imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both. Enforcement is by the Director of Public Works or an employee, agent or official the Director designates, who acts as a law enforcement officer for the limited purpose of issuing nontraffic summary citations, and by every law enforcement officer with jurisdiction in the City. Cases go before a Magisterial District Judge under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure.

Cleanup costs are charged on top of the fine. Section 9-311.4D makes violators of the illegal dumping section responsible for the cost of cleaning up, assessed on a schedule: $190 per ton of municipal waste, $75 per vehicle used for cleanup, $50 per person cleaning up, and $25 for fuel per hour and per vehicle. An additional $25 neighborhood mitigation penalty is imposed under Section 9-311.4E, remitted to the Neighborhood Mitigation Fund.

When not otherwise specified, each day that a violation continues is a separate offense, and paying a penalty does not excuse the violation or grant a right to continue it. Related offenses sit nearby: excessive accumulation of waste is covered by Section 9-309.4, and accumulations over 1,000 pounds are a Category 1 violation too. Putting construction and demolition waste or hazardous waste in a municipal waste receptacle is Category 1 under Section 9-309.3.