Waco, TX Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Sec. 16-96, titled 'Private property generally,' is Waco's core illegal-dumping provision inside chapter 16, Nuisances. Subsection (a) bars throwing or depositing litter or junk on any privately owned property in the city, whether the parcel is occupied, unoccupied or vacant; the prohibition does not depend on the dumper owning or having any connection to the land. Subsection (b) goes further and reaches inaction: it is separately unlawful to 'accumulate or allow to accumulate' litter, junk, rubbish or garbage on private property, which lets the city cite a property owner who did not personally dump the material but let it pile up.

Subsection (c) extends the same accumulation ban indoors, prohibiting the buildup of filth, carrion or other impure, unsanitary or unwholesome matter inside any house, building or structure. Subsection (d) sets the required mental state for the accumulation offenses in (b) and (c) at criminal negligence, a lower bar than intent, meaning a property owner who simply should have known about a dump site accumulating on their land can still be convicted. Sec. 16-96 traces to Code 1967, § 17-57 and cross-references chapter 21's solid waste rules.

Enforcement carries real teeth: the general penalty statute, Sec. 00 cap, specifically because dumping of refuse threatens public health and sanitation, and each day the dumped material remains is chargeable as a separate offense.