West Palm Beach, FL Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

City Code § 74-4(a), "Garbage, litter, and refuse," makes it unlawful to "deposit on or bury in, or cause to be deposited on or buried in, or place or keep, on any public highway, road, street, alley, right-of-way, bridge, thoroughfare or any other public lands, or any storm sewer, vacant or unoccupied lot, or any lake, canal, creek, or watercourse, any noxious, filthy, malodorous or offensive liquid or solid materials, garbage, litter, refuse or other wastes anywhere within the city limits" outside an approved, regularly collected container.

If the material is thrown from a vehicle or boat, the code holds the "operator or owner of the motor vehicle or vessel, or both" in violation. Owners and occupants are separately made responsible for keeping their own yard, the abutting half of any alley, the street right-of-way, and the parkway or swale free of garbage, litter and refuse except right before collection. Subsection (g), "Private property," extends the ban to dumping on someone else's land: "No person shall dump garbage, litter, or refuse or bury waste in any manner or amount whatsoever on any private property, unless prior written consent of the owner has been given," and even then the county health department must authorize the disposal and it can't create a nuisance or violate other law.

Hazardous waste and dead animals are carved out of the container system entirely and must go through state, county or city law instead, and subsection (i) separately bans burning solid waste, dead animals or hazardous waste within city limits.