Lake Charles, LA Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Sec. 9-16 defines an illegal pile broadly: any unauthorized accumulation of garbage, trash, litter, refuse, rubbish, appliances, building or construction debris, tires, limbs, trees or other discarded material or yard waste placed on a curbside, neutral ground or premises when the code requires the owner to dispose of it or bars city collection of it. Creating such a pile anywhere in the City of Lake Charles is unlawful under subsection (b). Once the city discovers an illegal pile, subsection (c) requires written notice to the owner and/or occupant giving five days to collect, remove and haul the material to a proper disposal site.

If the owner or occupant fails, neglects or refuses to comply, the mayor or an authorized representative may have city crews remove it, or contract the removal out to a private business, individual, partnership or corporation, all at the violator's expense; the cost is assessed under section 10-31 of the code. Subsection (e) makes a violation punishable by civil citation, subject to the administrative adjudication process in section 2-101 et seq. If the city has to do the removal work itself, subsection (f) allows the cost to become a lien collected through the tax rolls under section 10-32 et seq.

This sits alongside Sec. 9-22, which separately makes it unlawful to scatter, throw, drop or deposit garbage, trash, dead animals, industrial waste or other offensive material on any private yard, sidewalk, street, alley, or public place, or in any gutter, catch basin or drainage.