New Britain, CT Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Section 11-15, Unauthorized or illegal dumping, targets two things: depositing waste at the city's residential recycling center at 642 Christian Lane in Berlin without proper authorization, and depositing any of the materials section 11-17 flatly prohibits there, a list that runs from explosives, blasting caps and shotgun shells to liquid wastes like gasoline and solvents, demolition debris such as asbestos and aggregate, ashes, sealed drums, motor vehicle parts, pathological waste and logs longer than three feet or thicker than six inches. A first offense under section 11-15(1) carries two consequences: the depositor must remove every bit of the illegal or unauthorized waste, and must pay a fine equal to three times the tipping fee the city charges for legal disposal, or two hundred dollars, whichever amount is greater.

A second offense escalates from a fine to a loss of access: section 11-15(2) lets the director of public works suspend the depositor's privilege to deposit waste at the residential recycling center for a period the director sets, cutting off the offender's only in-city legal outlet for bulky waste, hazardous materials and prohibited items rather than simply raising the dollar amount again. The department of public works, not the police department, administers this penalty scheme, and it reaches only unauthorized dumping at the recycling center itself; dumping on streets or private land elsewhere in the city instead falls under the separate nuisance provisions of section 11-10.