Santa Rosa, CA Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

050(A) bars anyone from littering, dumping, throwing, or otherwise depositing or accumulating garbage, recyclable materials, organic waste, household hazardous waste, or other hazardous waste, debris, or other wastes on a vacant lot, in a backyard, or on any highway, street, alley, gutter, sidewalk, park, waterway, or other public place in the city. Subsection (B) separately makes it unlawful to burn any of those same materials within city limits, and subsection (C) bars burying them anywhere in Santa Rosa. These three prohibitions cover the full range of illegal disposal, dumping on someone else's land, open burning, and covert burial, not just curbside violations.

060, which allows emergency removal of materials the City Health Officer or City Manager deems a health hazard requiring prompt action; that narrow exception does not authorize routine dumping or burning. 040: the City Manager enforces Chapter 9-12 and has the right to enter any premises to check for violations, and anyone who violates any provision of the chapter, including the dumping ban, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Because illegal dumping also frequently violates the littering and public-nuisance provisions tied to the same chapter, the City Manager's designee can pursue the case through code enforcement without waiting for a separate civil nuisance action.