Yorba Linda, CA Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Yorba Linda's illegal dumping ban sits inside the same chapter that governs franchise trash service, and it is written broadly. Section 8.20.070(M) prohibits throwing, placing, scattering or depositing solid waste on the property of another person, or on any public property, street, driveway, highway or alley in the city, with no requirement that the dumper live in Yorba Linda or that the material be hazardous; ordinary household or construction debris dumped on a neighbor's lot or a roadside easement qualifies. Subsection (N) closes a gap the first clause leaves open: it separately makes it unlawful to throw, place, scatter or deposit solid waste on any premises, including the dumper's own property, in a manner that becomes, or may become, a nuisance or endangers public health, capturing the case of someone piling waste on their own land rather than someone else's.

Both provisions exist independent of the franchise-subscription rules elsewhere in the chapter, so illegal dumping is unlawful whether or not the dumper has ever subscribed for collection service. Every violation of Chapter 8.20, including illegal dumping under subsections (M) and (N), is treated under § 8.20.121 as a separate offense for each day it continues, and the City Manager and City Attorney jointly decide whether to charge it as a misdemeanor or an infraction. Beyond the criminal penalty, § 8.20.121(D) independently deems any chapter violation a public nuisance, letting the City abate illegally dumped material under its general nuisance-abatement powers, and § 8.20.121(E) lets the City recover its attorneys' fees and prosecution costs from the person responsible.