If you live in or near a big city—and likely even if you don’t—you’ve seen it: a huge pile of tires on the side of the road, abandoned construction debris in a vacant lot, or a sheen floating on the surface of a bayou or creek. Unfortunately, such sights are all too common in the modern industrialized world.
It’s estimated that more than 100 million tons of waste are dumped annually worldwide; the United States dumps nearly 1.5 million tons of trash, and that doesn’t even account for cigarette butts, plastic bags, and other forms of small, personal litter. Illegal dumping laws usually focus on larger deposits of trash, over 15 pounds or 27 cubic feet as an average minimum. While commercial deposits of waste are often much larger, it’s worth noting that a single trash can’s worth of garbage is enough to get someone in trouble.
The most commonly dumped items tend to be those that are not so easy to dispose of, such as tires, furniture, large appliances, construction debris, landscape waste, chemicals, and fluorescent lights. Sometimes whole cars are left to rust. Bags of household trash thrown from a moving vehicle dot the side of many roads, and neighborhood residents frequently dump oil and other chemicals down storm drains when they don’t know what else to do. Frequent dumpsites include on or near highways, right-of-ways such as those for railroads, along bayous, creeks, rivers, and coastal shores, and even in public and private parks.
The reasons why dumping is bad are easy to list: it’s ugly, often harmful to the soil, water, and even the air, it’s a fire hazard, a breeding ground for vermin and disease, and often attracts other types of crime to its neglected locale. The toxicity of the dumping grounds negatively affects the health of both humans and wildlife, not only nearby, but often surprisingly far downstream or downwind. Local economies are depressed as property values get dragged down, and residents desensitized to the blight pile on and make the problem worse, further driving away business and investment. When the community can no longer tolerate the mess, the taxpayers often end up paying the cost to clean it up. For all these reasons and more, dumping in non-designated areas is illegal.
In Texas, illegal dumping offenses are not limited to those who drop the garbage on the ground. It is also an offense to allow dumping, transport litter, or receive litter at any place that is not an approved solid waste site, even if it is on your own private property. Violations range from Class C to Class A misdemeanors, and penalties include both fines and possibly jail time. Three or more convictions can be escalated to a felony, and both companies and individuals can be held liable for illegal dumping. Waste greater than 1,000 pounds can also lead to more severe charges, as can toxic chemicals or waste dumped into water.
For the full definition of the Texas illegal dumping laws, visit https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/HS/htm/HS.365.htm
Most businesses that produce significant amounts of solid waste have some form of federal, state, or industry guidelines for identifying types of waste and prescribed methods of disposal for each. Even if most businesses start out with good intentions, there are plenty of points where standards can slip along the way.
Reasons for illegal dumping vary. The most common one is that the nearest legal disposal site is simply too far away, particularly in rural areas where landfills are few and far between. Cost is another factor; long-distance transport adds up, and some types of waste require special processing and/or storage that add fees on top of that and might be even farther away. Lack of education on available disposal options can be an issue in some areas, and of course, there’s always the good old human aversion to inconvenience even when legal options are readily available. The decision to dump illegally can come from the corner-cutting executive or the overstretched truck driver, or anywhere in between.
The key aspect for determining liability is knowledge: who knew illegal dumping was happening, and when? If your employee or contractor decides to break protocol on his own without telling anyone, then only he might be held liable for illegal dumping. If you found out about it and the dumping continued, however, then obviously liability moves up the chain of command.
Large companies in particular may have hundreds or even thousands of moving parts for waste tracking once it’s out the door. It can be easy to lose in the shuffle if you don’t have tracking and verification procedures to manage the process. Edge Engineering & Science can help your company implement systems to document, track, and verify outgoing waste disposal shipments to ensure that your solid waste gets to the destination it’s supposed to and you remain in compliance with the law and in good standing with your community.