Kauai County, HI Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Chapter 20, Article 3 of the Kaua'i County Code, first enacted in 1961 as Ordinance No. 113, prohibits throwing or depositing litter anywhere in the County outside an authorized receptacle or an official County dump. Section 20-3.2 defines litter broadly as any rubbish or debris likely to injure a person, animal or vehicle or prejudicial to public health, safety and welfare, naming glass, glass bottles, tin cans, nails, tacks, wire, metal pieces, stone, paper, food remnants, rags, wood, straw, hay and sweepings. Section 20-3.3 bars depositing that material on any public street, sidewalk, beach, park or other public place except in public receptacles, authorized collection receptacles or official County dumps, covering the classic illegal-dumping scenario of leaving bagged trash or bulky debris at a roadside pullout or beach parking area.

Section 20-3.4 requires anyone using a public receptacle to place litter so wind or water cannot scatter it back into the street. Section 20-3.5 separately bans throwing or depositing litter from a moving or parked vehicle, reaching drivers and passengers who toss trash out a window, and Section 20-3.6 extends the ban to rivers, ponds, lakes, streams, bays and any other body of water in or next to a park or public place, covering illegal dumping into Kaua'i's streams and nearshore waters. Section 20-3.7 sets the penalty for any Article 3 violation at a fine of up to two hundred fifty dollars per offense, and because a separate offense is committed each day a violation occurs or continues, dumped material left in place keeps accruing fines until it is removed.