Tamarac, FL Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Tamarac Code § 9-1 defines litter as any garbage, rubbish, cans, bottles, containers, trash, refuse and papers, and sediment as soil, silt, sand, gravel, pebble, stone, rock, sod, clod, muck, dust or clay, then bans depositing either. Subsection (b) makes it unlawful to throw, discard, place or deposit litter in any manner or amount on any public highway, road, street, alley, thoroughfare or other public land, except in lawfully provided containers or areas, and separately bans depositing garbage, cans, bottles or containers into the city's freshwater lakes, rivers, streams, or tidal or coastal waters.

Dumping on private property is also unlawful unless the property owner has given prior consent and the litter neither creates a public nuisance nor violates other state or local law. A related clause targets vendors: anyone who temporarily occupies public or private land to sell or distribute food or merchandise must clear litter left by customers within a 300-foot radius of the point of sale before leaving. Subsection (c) separately bars a vehicle owner or operator from allowing a vehicle to deposit litter or sediment on any public right-of-way, and subsection (d) requires access roads used for land-disturbing activity to be sprinkled or otherwise treated to control dust, and requires sediment-hauling vehicles to be covered so material does not spill or blow onto adjacent property.

Enforcement runs through a code enforcement officer or any other duly authorized law enforcement officer under § 9-2. Because § 9-1 sets no penalty of its own, a violation is punished under the citywide general penalty, Tamarac Code § 1-13.