Redwood City, CA Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)
Key Facts
- Core prohibition
- No dumping/burying refuse in city places (Sec. 14.5)
- Covered locations
- Any lot, land, street, alley, or waterway
- Related duty
- No accumulation of refuse on own premises (Sec. 14.4)
- Default penalty
- Misdemeanor, up to $1,000 fine, 6 months jail (Sec. 1.7)
- Continuing violation
- Each day is a separate offense (Sec. 1.7(C))
Summary
Redwood City Code section 14.5 makes it unlawful to dump, place or bury refuse or condemned waste matter in any lot, land, street, alley, waterway or anywhere else in the City. There's no standalone fine written into the section, so a violation defaults to the code's general misdemeanor penalty.
REFUSE: Shall mean and be held to include all types of waste materials such as defined herein under the heading of "garbage," "organic materials," "recyclables," "rubbish," "solid waste," and "waste matter."...WASTE MATTER: Shall mean and be held to include crockery, ashes, shells, plaster, brickbats and all other noncombustible materials...Sec. 14.5. - DUMPING, ETC., OF REFUSE IN CITY PLACES UNLAWFUL: No person shall dump, place or bury in any lot, land, street or alley, or in any water or waterway or elsewhere within the City any refuse or any waste matter condemned by the Health Department or its authorized representatives.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Zoning Code: Supplement 29 | City Code: Supplement 61 Update 1).
Full Breakdown
1 defines 'refuse' to include garbage, organic materials, recyclables, rubbish and waste matter, and separately defines 'waste matter' as crockery, ashes, shells, plaster, brickbats and other noncombustible materials. 5 itself bars dumping, placing or burying any refuse, or any waste matter condemned by the Health Department or its representatives, in any lot, land, street, alley, waterway or elsewhere in the City. 4, which separately makes it unlawful for an owner or occupant to let refuse accumulate and remain on their own lot or premises (with an exception for active construction sites).
10 backs the whole chapter with a compliance mechanism: once the Health Officer or a representative gives notice of a violation, the responsible person must comply or is deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. 7's general penalty clause supplies the punishment for the chapter's dumping and refuse violations.
Violations & Fines
Because Chapter 14 doesn't set its own fine for illegal dumping, section 1.7's general penalty applies: a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment in the county jail for up to six months, or both. Section 1.7 also makes every day a dumping violation continues a separate offense, and section 14.10 conditions the misdemeanor on the violator first getting notice from the Health Officer and failing to comply.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it illegal to dump trash on vacant land in Redwood City?
What's the penalty for illegal dumping in Redwood City?
Can I be cited for refuse just piling up on my own property?
Do I get a warning before being charged with a misdemeanor?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Redwood City
California rules heatmap·Compare Redwood City to another location·View the California trash & recycling overview
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