Queen Anne's County, MD Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

The core rule is § 19-2(B). In unincorporated Queen Anne's County, a person cannot deposit or accumulate on any land, street or highway any foul, decaying or putrescent substance, any garbage, refuse or rubbish, or any other offensive matter, unless the method is approved by the Enforcement Officer or a designated agent. The County Commissioners designate the Enforcement Officer. The § 19-1 definitions are broad: refuse covers ashes, garbage, rubbish, junk, industrial waste, motor drain oil, dead animals and all other solid waste materials, and rubbish includes construction debris, dead trees and stumps, slash, rubble, bottles and cans, plastic, wastepaper and cardboard.

Two related nuisance clauses matter to dumpers: § 19-2(F) bars using garbage or other putrescent matter as fill except at licensed or governmentally operated sanitary landfills, and § 19-2(J) bars depositing or storing hazardous substances on any land in the county. Enforcement starts when the Enforcement Officer gets a written complaint from a medical practitioner, an affected person (a contiguous property owner or resident) or a homeowners' association, or finds a reasonable basis to believe a violation exists. The officer can then serve a written notice requiring abatement within a stated time.

Under § 19-6, the County Commissioners can abate the nuisance by any appropriate means and assess the property owner the cost plus a $100 administrative fee. That assessment is a lien on the property and is collected the same way as County real estate taxes. Dumping on public property has its own rules. Section 22-19(D)(2) prohibits dumping household or commercial trash and refuse on any County property, even into a trash receptacle, and ranks it a Class b offense. Section 20-10 separately bars disposing of residential or commercial waste or refuse at a public landing, pier or marina. Centreville, Queenstown and the other incorporated towns run their own codes.