Businesses and individuals who dump illegally create untenable environmental, health, and economic harms in our communities, which are often frustrated when dumping is left unchecked. Unfortunately, if not surprisingly, these harms fall disproportionately on low-income communities and communities of color. 

Today the Council voted unanimously on first reading to enhance the District’s ability to enforce its ban on illegal dumping and expand the list of illegal items to include frequently dumped items such as appliances, mattresses, and tires.  

I was proud to move this legislation through my committee, the Committee on Public Works & Operations, and work with Councilmember Brooke Pinto, Chair of the Committee on the Judiciary & Public Safety, to which the legislation was sequentially referred, to move the bill through Council. 

We can do more to protect neighborhoods from the harms of illegal dumping. This legislation moves us in that direction by granting the Office of the Attorney General the authority to file civil lawsuits and prosecute misdemeanor violations against those who violate the illegal dumping prohibition – with the intent of going after habitual bad actors who are harming our community. It also amends the definition of solid waste to add appliances, mattresses, furniture, shopping carts, and tires – frequently dumped items that previously were not explicitly included. 

Closing the enforcement gap in the illegal dumping statute by recognizing civil lawsuits is an important tool that will help make sure that those who engage in this illegal activity do not evade accountability where criminal prosecution may be inappropriate or infeasible, or where administrative fines may be insufficient to address the harms and deter future misconduct.