Homestead, FL Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

5-5(a) is written broadly: no one may deposit on or bury in any land, public square, street, alley, sidewalk, bridge, storm sewer, vacant lot, lake, canal, creek or watercourse any noxious, filthy or offensive garbage, refuse, rubbish, trash or waste, or place such material anywhere in the city outside an approved residential or commercial container that is collected regularly. Only the Dade County Public Health Department can approve a burial exception, in writing, filed with public works before the burial proceeds, and burning refuse anywhere in the city is separately outlawed.

Subsections (b) through (d) push the responsibility onto whoever creates the mess: builders, contractors and property owners must remove their own excavation, construction and demolition debris in vehicles designed not to spill it, must keep an onsite container during ongoing work, and any hauler bringing garbage in from outside the city needs the public works director's written approval before dumping it in Homestead. Subsection (e) requires a franchise to commercially collect garbage, trash or recyclables in the city, and subsection (f) confines disposal to approved sanitary landfill sites.

5-9: the performance of any prohibited act on each day constitutes a separate offense, violations by owners, agents, tenants or lessees are enforced under Chapter 7's code enforcement process, and the city can simply refuse to collect solid waste placed out in violation of the chapter. 1. A finding of guilt by the code enforcement board, or a conviction in court, exposes a violator to punishment as allowed under existing law. The section was last amended by Ord. No. 2025-03-07 on March 19, 2025.