Issaquah, WA Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

The core rule is one sentence in IMC 8.04.030: it is unlawful for any person to dump or in any manner dispose of garbage upon any street, alley, public place or private property within the City. The reach is wide. It covers a roadside, an alley behind a business and a neighbor's vacant lot alike, and the phrase in any manner disposes of garbage means the method does not matter.

Garbage is defined in IMC 8.04.010(C) to include refuse, rubbish, ashes, swill, and all other putrescible and nonputrescible wastes from all public and private establishments and residences. Sewage and hazardous, toxic and petroleum wastes are carved out of that definition.

Penalty comes from IMC 8.04.130. Only violations of 8.04.020(A) and (C) are civil infractions, so a dumping violation under 8.04.030 is a misdemeanor punished as set forth in chapter 1.06 IMC. IMC 1.06.010(A) sets a fine not to exceed $1,000 or imprisonment not to exceed 90 days, or both, and IMC 1.06.020 treats each day of a continuing violation as a separate offense. IMC 1.06.030 also makes any condition maintained in violation of the code a public nuisance, with all legal abatement remedies available in addition to the criminal penalty.

The litter chapter covers smaller-scale dumping. IMC 8.06.040 bars any person from throwing, dropping, depositing or discarding litter on any public place in the City, on private property not owned by that person, or in any waters within the City's jurisdiction, whether from a vehicle, watercraft, aircraft or otherwise. Exceptions apply for property designated for disposal where the person is authorized, for a litter receptacle used so litter is not carried away, and for property the person owns or controls or has the owner's or tenant's consent to use.

IMC 8.06.050 makes a chapter violation a misdemeanor, sets a fine of not less than $100.00 for a third or subsequent conviction that cannot be suspended or deferred, and lets the court direct the offender to pick up litter on public property, or on private property with the owner's permission, for not less than 8 hours nor more than 16 hours for each separate offense. Under IMC 8.06.060 any police officer can enforce the chapter, issue citations and arrest without a warrant.