Springfield, OH Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Section 521.08, LITTERING AND DEPOSIT OF GARBAGE, RUBBISH, JUNK, ETC., is Springfield's core illegal-dumping ordinance. Subsection (a) provides that, except as provided in § 521.10, no person shall, without lawful authority, place or dispose of in any manner, upon any public property or upon the premises of another, any paper, trash, garbage, waste, rubbish, refuse, junk or any substance or material which is or may become noxious, offensive, injurious or dangerous to public health, comfort or safety; that language was enacted by Ordinance 75-259, passed September 9, 1975.

Subsection (b) separately bars causing or allowing such materials to collect or remain in any place to the damage or prejudice of others or the public, or unlawfully obstructing, impeding, diverting, corrupting or rendering unwholesome or impure any natural watercourse, reaching dumping that fouls a creek or drainage channel rather than a single deposit. Subsection (c) sets an escalating penalty: a first violation of the section is a minor misdemeanor, but each subsequent offense is a misdemeanor of the fourth degree, a meaningfully harsher class than the flat minor misdemeanor penalty used elsewhere in this chapter for offenses like sidewalk obstruction or nuisance conditions.

Community Development code enforcement and the Service Department handle dumping complaints on public rights-of-way and vacant lots within the City of Springfield, while the Clark County Combined Health District has separate jurisdiction over health-nuisance conditions.