Prevent Illegal Dumping

              nois Attorney General
(OIAG), the Illinois Depart-ments
of Public Health
(IDPH), Natural Resources
(IDNR), Commerce and
Economic Opportunity
(DCEO), as well as county,
township and municipal
enforcement authorities
and elected officials are
linking strategies to fight
these unsightly blights on
our communities that may
present a threat to public
health and the environ-ment
as well as a poten-tially
negative impact on
area property values.
We have all observed
illegal dumping – fly dump-ing
of bags of trash, old
mattresses or appliances
thrown down a stream
bank, piles of construction
debris or tires left on an
empty city lot or even on
private property. All acts of
illegal dumping affect the
quality of life for anyone
who lives near it. How can
we prevent this criminal
activity?
The Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency (Illinois
EPA), the Office of the Illi-
Preventing Illegal Dumping at the Local Level
Section 21 of the Illinois
Environmental Protection
Act (“Act”), 415 ILCS 5/21,
prohibits the open dump-ing
of waste. Section 55(a)
of the Act, 415 ILCS 5/55
(a), prohibits open dump-ing
of used or waste
tires. Section 44(a) of the
Act, 415 ILCS 5/44(a) pro-vides
that a knowing viola-tion
of either Section 21 or
Section 55 is a Class A
misdemeanor, and Section
44(p)(1)(A) of the Act
makes knowingly conduct-ing
unpermitted storage,
treatment or disposal of
more than 250 cubic feet
of waste a Class 4 felony.
In addition, Section 47-5
of the Illinois Criminal
Code of 1961, 720 ILCS
5/47-5 provides that dump-ing
garbage, rubbish, re-fuse
or trash on someone
else’s property without
their consent is a Class B
misdemeanor for the first
offense, a Class A misde-meanor
for the second
offense and a Class 4 fel-ony
for the third or subse-quent
offense.
SECTIONS 21, 44(A, P)
AND 55(A) OF THE ENVI-RONMENTAL
PROTECTION
ACT AS WELL AS SEC-TION
47-5 OF THE ILLI-NOIS
CRIMINAL CODE
PROVIDE ENFORCEMENT
AUTHORITY AGAINST
ILLEGAL DUMPING.
Specific legal citations for authority to enforce against dumping in the state of Illinois November 2010
S T A T E O F I L L I N O I S
I L L I N O I S E N V I R O N M E N T A L P R O T E C T I O N A G E N C Y
Prevent Illegal Dumping
What are the state criminal laws regarding illegal dumping?
Markham Illegal Dump Site, South Cook
County, Illinois, April 2010
Yes. Section 21 of the Act
may be enforced through
civil actions in the Circuit
Courts brought by the
OIAG or the State’s Attor-ney
of the county where
the violation occurred. In
addition, the Illinois EPA
and certain county officials
with delegated authority
may issue administrative
citations for penalties in
actions before the Illinois
Pollution Control
Board. Remedies avail-able
in Circuit Court civil
actions include monetary
penalties and injunctive
relief, whereas only mone-tary
penalties are available
in an Administrative Cita-tion
action.
Many counties and munici-palities
have local ordi-nances
that expressly pro-hibit
open dumps and un-permitted
landfills. Most
have ordinances that pro-hibit
maintaining a nui-sance
that can also apply.
vice, assistance and exper-tise
to local officials in an
investigation of an illegal
open dumping case. In
addition, Illinois EPA head-quarters
has an experi-enced
State Police Special
Criminal Investigator on
contract who can consult
with local law enforcement
officers, arrange for techni-
Illinois EPA has approxi-mately
70 full-time trained
and experienced field inves-tigators
assigned to its
Springfield headquarters
and various regional offices
located throughout the state.
While their primary duty is to
conduct compliance inspec-tions,
EPA inspectors can
also provide technical ad-cal
assistance, and in an
appropriate case, assist
with the illegal dumping
investigation.
The Attorney General’s
Environmental Crimes Bu-reau
has prosecuting attor-neys
who can consult or co
-counsel with and provide
assistance to the local
States Attorney, or, with
Are there civil laws that also deal with this issue?
How may local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors be assisted by the state?
Who may enforce the criminal laws against illegal dumping?
sheriffs and their deputies,
Illinois State Police troop-ers,
Conservation Police
Officers, park and forest
preserve district police,
housing and transit author-ity
police, railroad police,
and all other law enforce-ment
officers are required
to investigate illegal dump-ing
and when appropriate,
file charges and make ar-rests.
Section 44 Environ-mental
Protection Act
criminal violations may be
prosecuted in the circuit
court by the Office of the
Illinois Attorney General or
the state’s attorney of the
county where the violation
occurred.
Section 44(l) of the Act,
415 ILCS 5/44(l), provides
that it shall be the duty of
all State and local law en-forcement
officers to en-force
the provisions of the
Illinois Environmental Pro-tection
Act and its regula-tions.
This means that local
municipal police officers
and patrolmen, county
Page 2
Prevent Illegal Dumping
Vegetation growing through waste tires at
the Markham Dump.
ILLINOIS EPA HAS
AN EXPERIENCED
STATE POLICE
SPECIAL CRIMINAL
INVESTIGATOR WHO
CAN OFFER
CONSULTING AND
TECHNICAL
ASSISTANCE TO
LOCAL LAW
ENFORCEMENT.
the State’s Attorney’s con-currence,
prosecute the
case directly. In addition,
Illinois EPA legal counsel
can provide research and
other legal assistance to
the local State’s Attorney,
and, in appropriate cases,
function as court appointed
special prosecutors.
1. Citation Authority. In
addition to imposing the
statutory obligation on all
law enforcement officers to
enforce the laws against
illegal dumping, Section 44
(l) of the Act expressly au-thorizes
the issuance of
citations for such viola-tions.
Apprehended viola-tors
may thus be immedi-ately
charged and sub-jected
to the jurisdiction of
the local court in much the
same way as serious traffic
and conservation violations
are handled. The prosecu-tor
may decide to amend
the citation or file additional
charges.
2. Extended Statute of
Limitations. Section 44(p)
felony violations of the
Act are subject to an ex-tended
statute of limitations
(5 years) pursuant to Crimi-nal
Code Section 3-6(f),
720 ILCS 5/3-6(f). Regard-less
of when the dumping
occurred, the statute of
limitations does not begin
until the offense is discov-ered
by or reported to a
state or local agency hav-ing
the authority to investi-gate
violations.
3. Enhanced Penalties.
Illegal dumping violations
are subject to the standard
provisions of the Unified
Code of Corrections misde-meanor
and felony sen-tences,
fines and restitution
(730 ILCS 5). In addition,
Section 44(a) misde-meanor
violations of Sec-tion
21 (open dumping of
waste) and Section 55(a)
(open dumping of used and
waste tires) carry an addi-tional
allowable sentence
of up to 300 hours of com-munity
service work.
Class 4 felony violations of
Section 44(p)(1)(a) (unper-mitted
storage, treatment
or disposal of more than
250 cubic feet of waste) is
subject to an additional fine
of $25,000 for each day of
violation. (A second or
subsequent violation is a
Class 3 felony with an ad-ditional
fine of $50,000 per
day of violation.)
4. Corporate Account-ability.
Per Criminal Code Section
5-4(a)(1), 720 ILCS 5/5-4
(a)(1), if illegal dumping is
committed by a corporate
employee or agent while
acting in the scope of em-ployment,
the corporation
may also be held criminally
responsible without the
necessity of proof that the
dumper acted in accor-dance
with corporate policy
or management direction.
5. Significant Forfeiture
Provisions.
Finally, Section 44.1(a) of
the Act provides that in
addition to all other civil
and criminal penalties pro-vided
by law, any person
convicted of a criminal vio-lation
of the Act shall forfeit
to the State an amount
equal to the value of all
profits earned, savings re-alized,
and benefits in-curred
as direct or indirect
result of such violation, and
any vehicle or conveyance
used in the perpetration of
such violation. By statute,
30% of all monies forfeited
tentially harm someone
who comes into contact
with them. Biological haz-ards
may be present, such
as used syringes or other
discarded medical use
items. Mosquitoes that
carry encephalitis or West
Nile Virus may breed in
standing water held by dis-carded
items.
Illegal dumps often present
physical hazards with bro-ken
glass, sharp metal ob-jects
protruding from the
ground or on discarded
items, and appliances in
which children may be
trapped.
There may be disposed
chemicals that would po-
What advantages are there to prosecuting an illegal dumper under
state law as opposed to a local ordinance?
What are the potential health issues related to dumps?
Page 3
Chemical containers found at the Mark-ham
site, April 2010.
ANY PERSON
CONVICTED OF A
CRIMINAL
VIOLATION OF THE
ACT SHALL
FORFEIT TO THE
STATE AN
AMOUNT EQUAL
TO THE VALUE OF
ALL PROFITS
EARNED...
goes directly to the law
enforcement agency that
investigated the violation,
30% goes directly to the
office of the Attorney Gen-eral
or the State’s Attorney
(whichever prosecuted the
case), and the remainder
goes into the State of Illi-nois
Hazardous Waste
Fund to be used for ongo-ing
enforcement of environ-mental
protection laws.
Prevention could be the small cost of better informing citizens with public service announcements, flyers
and hotline numbers or a few well-placed video cameras in common dumping spots versus many hundreds
of thousands of tax dollars to clean up a complex site with illegally dumped tires, chemical waste, land-scape
waste, construction and demolition debris, and general refuse.
Additional Links:
http://www.epa.state.il.us/community-relations/fact-sheets/illegal-dumping/index.html
http://www.epa.state.il.us/emergency-response/
http://www.epa.state.il.us/environmental-justice/
http://www.state.il.us/iema/disaster/pdf/EmerNotFactsheet2-04.pdf
http://www.epa.gov/reg5rcra/wptdiv/illegal_dumping/index.html
http://www.p2pays.org/ref/01/text/0076916.htm
http://www.msa2.saccounty.net/illegaldumping/Pages/Reward.aspx (Rewards Program)
http://wastenot.enr.state.nc.us/SWHOME/IllegalDumpinginNC.htm
Preventing Illegal Dumping Saves Time and Money
Illinois EPA contact:
Attorney Dan Merriman
Division of Legal Counsel
Office Ph: 217/524-3639
Division Ph: 217/782-5544
Daniel.Merriman@illinois.gov
We’re on the web— www.epa.state.il.us/land/illegal-dumping/
How can local officials and law
enforcement prevent illegal
dumping?
Local government and law enforce-ment
agencies can encourage citi-zens
to exercise vigilance in identify-ing
and reporting illegal dumping as
soon as it is observed. Municipal and
county officials may then work with
county state’s attorney offices, with or
without assistance from the state, to
prosecute offenders. Publicizing ar-rests
and successful prosecutions
helps to deter others who would
S T A T E O F I L L I N O I S
I L L I N O I S E N V I R O N M E N T A L P R O T E C T I O N A G E N C Y
dump illegally. Don’t tolerate illegal
dumping in your jurisdiction.
In rural areas, local organizations
such as Soil and Water Conservation
Districts, Farm Bureau chapters or
township supervisors may distribute
information to members at regional or
local meetings. Likewise, in urban
areas, mayors and managers, bar
associations, chambers of commerce,
libraries and banks may want to dis-tribute
information through their or-ganizations’
contact lists.
WHEN ALL LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS AND AGENCIES TAKE OWNERSHIP
OF THE ISSUE, MORE RESOURCES ARE FOCUSED ON THE PROBLEM, AND
COMMUNITIES CAN COME CLOSER TO ELIMINATING ILLEGAL DUMPING.
November 2010