Orlando, FL Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

75 defines 'litter' broadly, garbage, rubbish, trash, refuse, cans, bottles, containers, paper, lit or unlit cigarettes and cigars, flaming or glowing material, boxes, or wood, and bars throwing, discarding, placing, or depositing it in any manner or amount while intentionally refusing to remove it after a law enforcement officer orders that removal. The ban covers four settings: public highways, roads, streets, alleys, and other public land outside a lawfully provided container or area; freshwater lakes, streams, or ponds; private property, unless the owner has consented and the litter won't create a public nuisance or violate another law; and public transportation, park, recreation, or sport facilities outside designated receptacles.

The ordinance singles out vehicle and boat operators for automatic liability: whenever litter is thrown or discarded from a motor vehicle, the operator, owner, or both are deemed in violation, and the same rule applies to litter thrown from a boat into a lake, stream, or pond. Because the offense turns on refusing an officer's cleanup order rather than the initial act of littering alone, enforcement in practice starts with a warning and escalates to a citation only if the person declines to pick the litter back up.