Janesville, WI Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Section 34-342 of the Janesville Code of General Ordinances prohibits placing any filth, ashes, dirt, debris, straw, paper, litter, or other refuse or material in any street, alley, sidewalk or public property. The section reaches beyond deliberate dumping: it also bars hauling ashes, gravel, stones or other material through the City in a way that lets any part of the load fall onto a street, alley, sidewalk or public property, so an uncovered truck bed can trigger the same violation as someone unloading trash by hand.

The provision sits in Chapter 34, Article XII, Prohibited Practices, alongside related street-obstruction bans on depositing snow (§ 34-343) and camping on public property (§ 34-344), and Public Works and Police enforce it as part of the same street-maintenance sweep that covers those sections. There is no permit or exception process built into § 34-342 itself: unlike the parade or street-closure articles elsewhere in Chapter 34, dumping refuse on a street or sidewalk is prohibited outright with no application a property owner or hauler can file to authorize it.

A separate rule in Chapter 30 bars bringing solid waste generated outside the City into any public or private place inside it, but the core illegal-dumping violation that Public Works and the Police Department cite for trash, debris or spilled loads left on Janesville streets, alleys and sidewalks is § 34-342.