Tulare County, CA Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Ordinance Code § 4-03-1130 makes it unlawful to maintain or use any residence, business or occupied building without sanitary means of solid waste disposal, requiring a fly-tight garbage pit or fly-tight, waterproof, covered cans emptied weekly; cans must be pulled off the street within 24 hours of emptying and may never sit in a County or other public right-of-way. Section 4-03-1140 separately targets dumped or accumulated waste: whenever solid waste "has been thrown or deposited upon any street, road, or private or public premises, or has accumulated thereon," the Public Health Officer gives the owner, tenant or person in control written notice to remove it, and it is unlawful to neglect or fail to remove the material within five days after receiving that notice.

Section 4-03-1131 separately bars depositing tires or Bulk Waste in a solid waste container without the Solid Waste Collector's prior consent. These storage-and-disposal prohibitions sit in Article 3 of Chapter 4-03, enacted by Ordinance No. 3596, effective December 7, 2021, and are enforced by the Solid Waste Director, Public Health Officer and Solid Waste Department under § 4-03-1080's inspection authority.