Mount Prospect, IL Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

The prohibition in Section 23.402 A is broad. It covers "dirt, yard material, rubbish, waste article, thing or substance, whether liquid or solid," so grass clippings, liquid waste and construction rubbish fall under the same sentence. Liability is not limited to the person holding the shovel: the code reaches a person acting "by himself or by an agent, employee or a servant." The protected locations are any public way or public place in the village, the waters and channel area of Weller Creek, and any canal, drain, sewer or receiving basin within the Village's jurisdiction.

The second sentence of subsection A reaches material that has not yet landed in a prohibited place. Nobody can deposit any of those items anywhere within the Village's jurisdiction in such manner that the action of the sun, wind, rain or snow carries or deposits it, in whole or in part, into any of those places.

Subsection B sets the penalty. The fine is set in Appendix A, Division III of the Village Code, which lists $250.00 for subsection A and, for each offense, a fine of not less than $250.00 nor more than $1,000.00. A separate offense is committed on each day during or on which a violation occurs.

Two neighboring provisions cover related conduct. Section 19.304 makes it unlawful to deposit anywhere in the village uncovered piles of refuse, garbage or miscellaneous waste products, including offal, dead animal carcasses, and human or animal excrement, and it declares those piles a nuisance. Section 19.311 fines a violation of that article not less than $500.00 nor more than $1,500.00 for each offense, with each day a separate offense. Section 19.310 authorizes the chief of police and the environmental health coordinator to abate a nuisance, and the violator pays the cost of abatement plus an administrative fee set in Appendix A, Division II. Under Section 23.1404, the abatement notice gives fourteen (14) days unless the code sets another period or public health and safety require a shorter one, and the cost is assessed against the land.