Gloucester County, NJ Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Section 2(f) of the Gloucester County Parks Rules & Regulations tells every visitor exactly where trash goes: into a receptacle where one is provided, or carried out of the park entirely when none is available. The same subsection separately forbids placing or disposing of any trash or refuse "in any lake, stream or waters in or contiguous to Park Areas," closing off the loophole of tossing garbage into the water instead of a can. The rule sits inside Section 2's broader "NO PERSON SHALL" list, which the Board of County Commissioners applies to every park, stream, lake and recreational area under its jurisdiction per Section 1.

A related ban in Section 2(e) covers a narrower but more serious category: discharging into park waters any substance that could pollute them, "including but not limited to those materials designated as environmentally hazardous substances, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 58:10-23.11b." That gives Parks & Recreation Department staff a second charge to reach for when the dumped material is chemical rather than ordinary litter.

Enforcement runs through Section 3. Parks and Recreation Department staff and other authorized representatives administer the Rules and Regulations under Section 3(e); under Section 3(f) they can order anyone violating the rules to leave the park immediately or call in law enforcement to compel compliance, and violators "may be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." Section 3(g) sets the actual penalty: anyone convicted of violating any provision of the Rules and Regulations "shall be subject to fines or imprisonment or both as prescribed by law for each offense," with the County of Gloucester bringing the prosecution. Because the rule reaches "any of the Park Areas," it applies uniformly across every county park, lake and recreation site, not just the ones with posted signage.