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

Sec. 601-2(a) of the Code of Indianapolis & Marion County makes it unlawful for anyone to deposit or place solid waste on real estate owned by another person without the owner's or lessee's approval. Subsection (b) shifts the burden: prosecutors only need to show the defendant dumped waste on property they didn't own or lease, and it becomes the defendant's job to prove they had permission. Subsection (c) extends liability upstream: a generator of solid waste can't legally hand it off to someone who then dumps it illegally, unless the waste went to a city-licensed hauler or was set out on a regular collection day under DPW's rules.

Licensed haulers using noncommercial vehicles must give customers a receipt bearing their license-number sticker for each hauling transaction, except for documented regular-service customers. Subsection (d) sets the base penalty: a fine of not less than $500, plus an order to reimburse every city department for its reasonable cleanup costs, and a court may impound the vehicle used in the dumping for up to 90 days. Subsection (e) raises the stakes for hazardous waste dumped in violation of the Indiana Environmental Management Act or the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act: the fine rises to not less than $1,000 plus cleanup costs, and impoundment becomes mandatory for a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 90 days.

Enforcement is primarily the job of the division of property and land use services within the department of business and neighborhood services, which keeps recovered money as reimbursement for its monitoring and enforcement costs under subsection (f).