Sullivan County, NY Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Chapter 171 of the Code of Sullivan County treats illegal dumping as its own violation, distinct from the general prohibited-activities and criminal-penalty sections that cover the rest of the Solid Waste Management Law. Section 171-6O bars depositing any solid waste in unregulated, uncontrolled or unlicensed disposal sites anywhere in Sullivan County. Section 171-9 separately bars bringing solid waste, ashes, incinerator residue, construction and demolition debris, waste tires or regulated waste generated outside the county into Sullivan County for deposit, unless the Commissioner of Public Works or the Solid Waste Management Rules authorize it.

Section 171-19 gives the county a dedicated civil penalty for illegal dumping: anyone who deposits solid waste in an unlawful, uncontrolled or unpermitted disposal site is liable to the County of Sullivan for up to $5,000 for each separate violation, and every day the violation continues is treated as a new, separate violation, so the exposure compounds the longer illegally dumped material sits. That civil track runs alongside the chapter's general criminal penalties: a residential violator can still be prosecuted under § 171-16A, and a commercial hauler under § 171-16B, for the same underlying dumping.

The Commissioner of Public Works administers and enforces Chapter 171 under § 171-4 and can pursue administrative hearings or refer matters for prosecution, and the chapter can also be enforced by injunction under § 171-17 to stop an ongoing dumping operation.