Peoria, AZ Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

City Code Chapter 22 treats illegal dumping as more serious than most solid-waste violations. Section 22-9 makes it unlawful to dump, litter or scatter solid waste or recyclables on any private or public property, and violating that specific dumping clause is a class one misdemeanor, the code's most serious solid-waste violation tier. Whatever sentence a judge imposes, the court must also order full restitution covering the cost of removing and disposing of the dumped material, so a conviction carries both a criminal penalty and a mandatory cleanup bill.

The same section separately bars anyone without written authorization from disturbing the contents of another party's solid waste or recycling container, or from taking recyclables set out for city collection or dropped at a city recycling center; those container-tampering violations are treated as civil traffic violations rather than misdemeanors, and the code presumes a person lacks authorization unless they can produce it in writing. A related but distinct prohibition sits in Section 22-2(d): placing solid waste on public or private property without permission, short of dumping, littering or scattering, is punishable as a class two misdemeanor, one step below the Section 22-9(c) dumping offense.

Hauling solid waste on city streets without a covered, leakproof vehicle is a civil traffic violation carrying a minimum $250 court sanction under Section 22-2(g).