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California lawmakers are serious about protecting the environment. Strict dumping laws is one of the ways they accomplish this.
What is Dumping?
When they talk about dumping, California lawmakers aren’t referring to the careless text you got from your ex stating that they just wanted to “be friends.” The lawmakers really aren’t concerned about your relationship status. What they’re actually referring to when they talk about dumping is the practice of taking garbage and dumping it somewhere that it doesn’t belong. A perfect example of this is taking a few old mattresses and tossing them in a ditch, or abandoning your broken down vehicle in a little-used alley.
Anytime you dispose of a bag of trash in a manner that is hurried, sloppy, and results in the trash laying around somewhere it doesn’t belong, you can be charged with illegal dumping.
How California Deal with Illegal Dumping
California’s illegal dumping laws are addressed in the California Penal Code section 374.3. According to the code, you can be charged with illegal dumping if you dump your trash on public or private property. Illegal dumping is a wobbler law so the prosecution has the option of charging you with a misdemeanor or a felony.
The degree of punishment handed out to you depends on several factors, including how many times you’ve been found guilty of illegal dumping and what type of waste you dumped.
While it’s possible to be sentenced to six months in jail for illegal dumping, in most cases, the guilty party is fined.
The fines associated with this charge include:
- $250-$1,000 for the first offense
- $500-$1,500 for the second offense
- $750-$3,000 (or more) for the third offense
If you were caught dumping tires, the fine is automatically doubled. If prosecutors look at your case and determine that you dumped what they consider commercial quantities of waste the illegal dumping fines become much steeper. A commercial quantity of waste is waste that was generated as part of a business (such as hazardous chemicals or debris created by a tree trimming company) that exceeds one cubic yard.
If you’re found guilty of commercial illegal dumping in California, the associated fines are:
- $1,000-$3,000 for the first offense
- $3,000-$6,000 for the second offense
- $6,000-$10,000 for the third offense