Palm Beach Gardens, FL Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Section 34-122(a) of the Palm Beach Gardens Code bars anyone from throwing, depositing, or scattering litter, debris, rubbish, trash, tin cans, or papers onto private property inside the city, regardless of who owns the land, except where the property owner has designated containers or areas for lawful collection. A companion provision, Section 34-122(b), separately makes it unlawful for an owner, lessee, or occupant to let debris, rubbish, trash, or stagnant water accumulate on a lot to the point it becomes a menace to life or property, a fire hazard, or a breeding ground for mosquitoes, rats, or other vermin, and Section 34-121 declares that same accumulation a public nuisance citywide.

Section 34-129 sets the penalties. Where the code enforcement board is enforcing the accumulation nuisance under Section 34-121, it can impose a civil fine of up to $250.00 per day for a first violation and up to $500.00 per day for a repeat violation, citing its authority under F.S. Section 162.09. For a dumping violation under Section 34-122 that carries no separate penalty of its own, Section 34-129(b) points back to the city's general penalty in Section 1-18: a fine of not more than $500.00, imprisonment for up to 60 days, or both, with each day the violation continues treated as its own separate offense. Section 1-18(b) additionally lets the city treat the underlying condition as a public nuisance and abate it directly.