Tippecanoe County, IN Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- County Code § 50.02
- Max fine
- $2,500 per conviction
- Enforcer
- County Board of Health/Health Officer
- Continuing violation
- each day is a separate offense
- Adopted
- Ord. 76-19, 6-14-76
Summary
Tippecanoe County bans dumping garbage, rubbish, or refuse anywhere other than a licensed disposal site, and bans hazardous material dumping outside an approved sanitary landfill, under Code § 50.02, punishable by up to $2,500 per offense.
It shall be unlawful for any person to dispose of any garbage or rubbish, or refuse, at any place in the county other than its point of origin, that is not a licensed public refuse disposal site... It shall be unlawful for any person to dispose of any garbage or hazardous material at any place in the county other than its point of origin that is not a sanitary landfill that is approved as such by the Indiana State Board of Health.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: 2025 S-17: Supplement contains: Local legislation current through Ord. 2025-25-CM, passed 8-1-25; and State legislation current through 2025 Acts, Pamphlet No. 3).
Full Breakdown
02(A) makes it unlawful for any person to dispose of garbage, rubbish, or refuse anywhere in the county other than its point of origin unless the site is a licensed public refuse disposal site, with narrow carve-outs for moving inert waste between properties the same person owns, leases, or rents for fill or top material, for road-construction disposal approved by the Indiana State Board of Health, for using cinders and inert materials in highway or building projects, and for spreading sludge or other waste on farmland under a valid state permit.
02(B) separately bars disposing of garbage or hazardous material anywhere other than a sanitary landfill approved by the Indiana State Board of Health. 02(C) extends the ban to any licensed commercial hauler, prohibiting disposal of waste that originated in the county at any out-of-county site that is not an approved sanitary landfill. 01 sweep broadly: RUBBISH covers ashes, cans, metalware, junked automobiles, used appliances and furniture, broken glass, sweepings, boxes, wood, grass, weeds, or litter of any kind, and HAZARDOUS MATERIAL includes explosives, pathological wastes, radioactive materials, and chemicals. The ordinance was originally passed as Ord. 76-19 on June 14, 1976 and remains the operative dumping prohibition for the unincorporated county.
Violations & Fines
Violations of § 50.02 are punished under the chapter's general penalty, § 50.99: a fine not exceeding $2,500 upon conviction. Where the violation involves an insanitary condition ordered abated by the County Board of Health or the Health Officer, each day after the abatement deadline that the condition continues is charged as a separate, distinct offense, allowing per-day fines to accumulate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is illegal dumping a crime in Tippecanoe County?
Can I dump construction debris on my own land in Tippecanoe County?
Who enforces illegal dumping rules in unincorporated Tippecanoe County?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Tippecanoe County
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