Shoreline, WA Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

SMC § 13.14.220 makes it unlawful to dump, throw, or place garbage on any public or private property in Shoreline, except in a garbage receptacle the person owns or is authorized to use, or a disposal site or interim garbage handling site the city manager has provided or designated under city ordinance. The section carves out litter specifically, which is addressed separately under SMC § 13.14.210. SMC § 13.14.240(D) ranks unlawful dumping of garbage among the code's most serious solid-waste offenses: it is grouped with asbestos-containing material violations and accumulation of garbage as a Class 1 civil infraction under RCW 7.80.120, with a maximum monetary penalty and default amount of $250.00, not including statutory assessments.

That $250 tier sits above the Class 2 ($125), Class 3 ($50) and Class 4 ($25) tiers the same section sets for lesser garbage-receptacle and hauling violations, reflecting that illegal dumping is treated as the more serious end of the chapter's enforcement scale. SMC § 13.14.240(E) further makes clear these civil penalties are in addition to, not instead of, any criminal sanction or abatement action available under Chapter 20.30 SMC, and that the penalty amount excludes any restitution a court may separately order. Enforcement runs through the city's code enforcement and public works staff administering Chapter 13.14, since the chapter designates the city manager to authorize disposal sites and interim handling sites that lawful disposal must use instead.