Can you toss your trash in your neighbor’s bin? What South Florida laws say

You’re walking down the street and need to toss a food wrapper or a bag of dog poop?

Can you stick it into your neighbor’s trash bin? Or drop it down the gutter?

In Florida, you can be fined for putting garbage in the wrong place.

The Florida Litter Law prohibits putting your trash anywhere it doesn’t belong, and that includes roads and highways, waterways and private property without consent.

And the rules can get more complex inside county or city limits.

County and city rules

In Miami-Dade County, the legality of disposing of your trash somewhere other than your personal bin or a public one depends on the type and amount of garbage thrown away.

While the law in Miami-Dade “does not expressly prohibit placing a small amount of waste into another resident’s cart,” doing so can become illegal if it involves a large amount of trash, hazardous materials or creates a “nuisance,” said Frank Calderon, the special projects administrator for Miami-Dade County’s Department of Solid Waste Management. This can be anything from leaving a couch on the side of a road to putting your bag of dog poop in someone else’s bin.

“Whether a particular incident constitutes illegal dumping depends on the specific facts of the case, including the location, type of waste, amount of waste,” Calderon said. “Each case is evaluated individually by enforcement personnel.”

But Calderon says that commercial dumpsters and private waste containers can only be used by the owners of the property to which they are distributed, as they “have a finite capacity.”

“When someone disposes of waste into another person’s container without permission, it reduces the available capacity for the customer who pays for that service.”

In cities within Miami-Dade County, you also have to be careful where you throw your trash.

“One person’s property trash is only to be disposed of from the property that produced it,” said Dale Henderson, the director of the Department of Solid Waste for Miami.

And in Miami Beach, moving your trash to another location can result in higher fines if it’s from a commercial property, like a restaurant or landscaping business.

What to do if you see illegal dumping

Calderon says that if you see someone putting garbage into your bin or on your property, don’t confront them. Instead, call 911 and say that illegal dumping is in progress.

If you discover that someone used your trash can or littered on your property after the fact, you should report it to 311 and include any photos or videos you can take.

Fines for illegal dumping

For illegal dumping in unincorporated parts of the county, you can face fines of $250 to $2,500.

But some cities have higher fines.

In Miami Beach, the first offense for disposing of any trash, including tree trimmings and garden garbage, somewhere you are not supposed to can led to a $500 fine. Subsequent violations can carry a $1,000 fine. Disposing of hazardous materials such as paint, chemicals or batteries in any trash can carries a fine of $2,000 to $4,000.

In the city of Miami, improperly disposing trash — like taking the trash from one of your homes and throwing it away in another of your property’s bins — can result in a $525 fine.

“If an owner has multiple properties, the trash is to be put out at each property, not collectively gathered,” Henderson said.

Henderson said that “sharing bins between property owners who receive city pickup” is not allowed.

The penalty for throwing your trash away in someone else’s bin without permission can worsen if you actually step onto their property. That could lead to trespassing charges, too.