Litter Fines

Over the past seven years, the Department of Ecology (Ecology) has conducted several focus groups to explore knowledge and attitudes towards littering among key audiences. Many of these focus groups were comprised of people who admitted to littering behavior. When participants were asked what would convince them to not litter, a clear theme emerged. "Knowing I will be caught and fined," was the number one deterrent to littering. Hearing what the fines are was new information for the research participants.

Both focus group and telephone survey participants continue to endorse the use of fines and community service to curb littering behavior. The Litter Task Force recommended that the Legislature and Ecology encourage Washington State Patrol and local governments to enforce litter laws. It also recommended that local penalties "be set at levels sufficient to provide meaningful incentives for compliance." While many support the use of enforcement, studies show that few jurisdictions are able to enforce littering laws effectively for two reasons:

Lack of personnel available for such a low priority issue.
The fact that it is difficult to "catch" offenders in the act.

RCW 70.93.060 sets minimum fines for littering and illegal dumping. It also encourages local governments to adopt ordinances similar to the state law. Local police departments, sheriff's offices, or health departments carry out most enforcement of litter laws. Many cities and counties have adopted local ordinances that are stricter than the state law. To find out about litter ordinances in your community, check our County Ordinances web page. You may also try contacting the sheriff or police department, county or city clerk, or the code enforcement office.

At the state level, minimum fines are set in state law. As the violation is processed, fees or assessments may be added. This could increase the amount the violator must actually pay. The table below shows littering penalties as outlined in state law, and the actual resulting penalty. This information came from the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts.

Information on Littering Penalties
Updated October 2007

"Violation"	"Citation"	"Penalty" Per Statute	AOC¹ Law Table
Potentially dangerous litter (including lit debris)	RCW 70.93.060(4)	$500 RCW 7.80.120(1)(a)	$1025 (class 1 civil infraction) total penalty¹
Littering an amount less than or equal to 1 cubic foot	RCW 70.93.060(2)(a)	$50 RCW 7.80.120(1)(c)	$103 (class 3 civil infraction) total penalty¹
Littering an amount greater than a cubic foot but less than a cubic yard	RCW 70.93.060(2)(b)	Up to $1000 and up to 90 days in jail (misdemeanor²) - RCW 9A.20.021(3) plus litter cleanup restitution of twice the actual cleanup cost, not less than $50 RCW 70.93.060(2)(b) - amended	$250 "suggested" bail
Littering an amount greater than a cubic yard	RCW 70.93.060(2)(c)	Up to $5000 and/or up to 1 year in jail (gross misdemeanor²) - RCW 9A.20.021(2) plus litter cleanup restitution of twice the actual cleanup cost, not less than $100 RCW 70.93.060(2)(c)	$500 "suggested" bail
Throwing or depositing litter on highway	RCW 46.61.645(1)	$87 base penalty; Infraction Rule for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction (IRLJ) 6.2(d)	$216 (traffic infraction) total penalty¹
Spilling or failure to secure load	RCW 46.61.655(7)(c)	$87 base penalty; Infraction Rule for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction (IRLJ) 6.2(d)	$216 (traffic infraction) total penalty¹
Failure to secure load - first degree (causing bodily harm to another)	RCW 46.61.655(7)(a)	Up to $5000 and/or up to 1 year in jail (gross misdemeanor²) - RCW 9A.20.021(2)	$500 "suggested" bail
Failure to secure load - second degree (causing damage to property of another)	RCW 46.61.655(7)(b)	Up to $1000 and/or up to 90 days in jail (misdemeanor²) - RCW 9A.20.021(3)	$250 "suggested" bail

¹The fines per Administrative Office of the Courts are higher because they include fees and assessments.
²Misdemeanors are considered "crimes" [versus infractions] and it is up to the judge to assess penalties.

Litterbag in Vehicle Law
If you are familiar with previous Washington State litter laws and fines, you may have noticed that one of the more controversial laws is missing in our fines chart. The $95 fine for failing to have a litterbag in your vehicle or watercraft (RCW 70.93.100) was repealed in July of 2003. While there are many arguments that contributed to its repeal, one of the more influential ones came from members of law enforcement. Some officers argued that the wording of the law made it extremely unpopular to enforce.

The wording of the law made the offense a misdemeanor, requiring a court appearance instead of just a citation. Secondly, patrol officers felt that persons who were not littering met the intent of the law whether or not they had a litterbag. Because of these concerns, the 2003 Legislature increased the fines for littering and repealed the litterbag law.

When Substitute House Bill 1409 addressed the litterbag law in 2003, it deleted the entire section pertaining to litterbags (RCW 70.93.100). To read the deleted text, click here.

Litter Related Violations
Issued by Washington State Patrol
2008
Washington State Patrol enforces litter laws on state highways. The table below shows detail on the citations issued in 2008, the most current data available. Because of the great number of local jurisdictions giving litter citations, we can’t tell how strongly litter laws are enforced statewide.

Description	Arrest (Actual Ticket)	Written Warning	Verbal Warning	Total
Failure to secure load	470	92	1223	1785
Debris escape	243	10	445	698
Uncovered load	93	2	293	388
Debris thrown	144	3	199	346
Debris lighted	286	1	412	699
Total	1236	108	2572	3916

Total Litter Related Violations
Issued by Washington State Patrol

1998	3,666
1999	3,937
2000	4,509
2001	4,351
2002	4,773
2003	3,995
2004	3,639
2005	3,636
2006	3,427
2007	3,619
2008	3,916