Taunton, MA Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

City Code § 420-10, added November 20, 1990 and amended March 31, 1998 and June 14, 2016, states that no one shall dump or tip garbage, trash or refuse in any form other than at the City dump upon payment of the appropriate fee, and makes any violation punishable by a fine in the amount of $300. Unlike the graduated fine schedules elsewhere in the Code, this penalty is a single flat amount with no escalation for repeat offenses and no early-payment discount. The section sits in Article I of Chapter 420 (Collection and Transportation), alongside § 420-2, which separately bars anyone other than City public-works employees from depositing, transporting or carrying house offal, filth or other noxious refuse through a public street, way, sidewalk or public place without a Board of Health permit.

Chapter 420 also regulates the City landfill site itself in Article II: § 420-5 confines lawful dumping there to ashes, dirt, leaves and similar non-hazardous matter that is not detrimental to public health in the judgment of the Board of Health, and violators there face removal orders in addition to the general Code penalty under § 1-5. Article III and Article IV separately prohibit hazardous waste facilities and most waste treatment, storage or disposal facilities anywhere within the City, reflecting the same anti-dumping policy applied at an industrial scale.