Most of what ends up in an Oshawa ditch could have gone for nothing. The City collects six large items free. The Region takes paint, oil, and electronics free. The fine for leaving it on the boulevard instead starts at $250 a day under the City's by-law and can reach $25,000 in court, before the province gets involved.
This page sets out which rule applies where, what happens when the hauler you paid is the one who dumped it, what to do when it lands on your property, and what it costs the creek. If you already have a City work order with a date on it, that is a different job: clearing an Oshawa lot maintenance order.
Which rule applies where
Oshawa does not have one "illegal dumping" by-law. It has several, and which one you are under depends on where the junk was left. All of them are enforced with administrative penalties: a notice you pay, or dispute through the City's screening and hearing process. Most can also be prosecuted under the Provincial Offences Act for a larger fine.
| Where it was left | Which rule | Penalty notice | If the City prosecutes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Someone else's curb, without their consent | Waste Collection By-law 90-2024, s. 9.6.4 | $125, then $225, then $325 within a year | Provincial Offences Act fine |
| A road, boulevard, ditch, curb, gutter, or sidewalk | Fouling of Highways By-law 65-2020 | $250, then $350, then $500, for each day or part of a day | $300–$5,000; $400–$10,000 second time; $500–$25,000 after |
| A City park | Parks and Facilities By-law 83-2000, s. 5.06 | $250, then $350, then $450 | $300–$5,000; $400–$10,000; $500–$25,000 |
| Fill, soil, or rubble dumped on land | Site Alteration By-law 85-2006 | — | Up to $10,000, then $25,000; corporations up to $50,000, then $100,000 |
| Anywhere that is not an approved waste site | Environmental Protection Act, s. 40 | — | Up to $50,000 a day for an individual on a first conviction |
A few details matter more than the headline numbers:
- "Highway" is wider than the road. The Fouling of Highways By-law counts the grass boulevard, the ditch, the curb, the gutter, and the sidewalk. "Debris" includes construction and demolition material. A couch on the boulevard counts, and so does a pile of shingles in the ditch.
- It charges by the day. The highway penalty is per day or part of a day. A pile left for a week is not one notice.
- An uncovered load counts too. The same by-law makes it an offence to haul rubbish or soil uncovered and let it spill. If your trailer sheds drywall on Simcoe Street, that is fouling.
- The City can clean it up and bill you. If an owner ignores a work order under these by-laws, the City can do the work and recover the cost with interest. The costs can be added to the property tax roll and registered as a lien.
- The province is separate. Littering under section 86 of the Environmental Protection Act carries up to $1,000 on a first conviction, $2,000 after. Depositing waste somewhere that is not an approved site, under section 40, is the larger offence: up to $50,000 a day for an individual on a first conviction, and on a later one up to $100,000 a day, up to a year in jail, or both. If the waste is hazardous, the minimum is $5,000 a day and the maximum is $4 million. The Region's own warning to residents put convictions for illegal dumping at up to $10,000.
"I paid a guy and he dumped it"
This is the one people do not see coming. Section 40 of the Act does not only cover whoever tipped the load. It says no person shall deposit waste, "or cause, permit or arrange for the deposit of" waste, anywhere that is not an approved site.
That is a real risk with a cash-only hauler from a classified ad. If the price sounded too low to cover the dump fee, ask where the fee was coming from. Ontario courts take this seriously. In *R. v. H.K. United Trucks*, 2026 ONCJ 401, a $50,000 fine was upheld against a trucking company for depositing waste at an unapproved site and hauling it without approval. The court rejected its defence that it had relied on a customer's word that the load was clean fill. That case was about fill and a company, not a household load, but the wording of the section is the same.
What protects you:
- Ask where it is going before anything is loaded. In Oshawa the answer should be a licensed facility, such as the Region's site at 1640 Ritson Road North.
- Ask for the dump receipt. Every vehicle at a Regional facility is weighed going in and coming out, and the scale house charges the difference by card only. A hauler who went there paid by card, and has the receipt to show it.
- Get a written quote with a business name on it. "Cash, no receipt" is how you end up with nothing to show anyone.
We tip at Ritson Road and keep the receipt. Ask for it.
This is not legal advice. If you have been charged, talk to a lawyer or a licensed paralegal.
Someone dumped on my property
Start by reporting it. Photograph the pile and write down anything you saw. The Region's illegal dumping page lists what a witness should record:
- The licence plate
- The colour and make of the vehicle, or a description
- The location
- The time of day
- The date
- What was dumped
Then deal with the pile. Orders under Oshawa's Lot Maintenance By-law go to the owner of the property. The officer is looking at your lot, not at who left the mattress on it. Reporting first gives you a record that it was not yours. Clearing it promptly keeps it from becoming a work order. If you already have one, the lot maintenance guide covers the date and the three ways to meet it.
Do not drag the pile onto the road or the boulevard to make it someone else's problem. That turns a lot issue into a Fouling of Highways offence, and the penalty is per day.
If it was left on the boulevard or in the ditch in front of your house rather than on your lot, report it to Service Oshawa as litter or debris on a road. That is City property.
Why it matters beyond the fine
Oshawa sits on creeks that drain straight into Lake Ontario, and Lake Ontario is the tap. About 95% of people in the Central Lake Ontario source protection area get their drinking water from treatment plants that draw from the lake, according to the source protection assessment report. The same report notes that the creeks in the area drain directly to the lake and can carry pollutants with them.
The Oshawa Creek watershed is already under strain. The Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority runs a watershed monitoring program and publishes report cards with Conservation Ontario. The 2018 report card found surface water quality declining in the Oshawa, Lynde, and Farewell Creek watersheds.
Dumping in the valley is also a line in the City budget. A 2024 report to Oshawa Council on the Oshawa Creek valley directed staff to work with the conservation authority and the Region. It set up weekly inspections for vandalism and illegal dumping, at about $5,000 up front and roughly $17,000 a year after that. That is tax money spent on picking up other people's couches.
North Oshawa runs up onto the Oak Ridges Moraine, the divide between the Lake Ontario and Lake Simcoe watersheds. "What happens on the Oak Ridges Moraine flows right through the Oshawa creek down to the lake," a local councillor told Global News about residents' fears over dumped soil there. More recently, CBC reported that the province had told residents that fill trucked to an aggregate pit on Harmony Road North was being brought in without authorization. Residents wanted to know what was in it. Fill is regulated for a reason.
What the common dumped items actually do:
- A fridge, freezer, air conditioner, or dehumidifier holds refrigerant that has to be recovered by a certified technician. That is why the Region charges a $20 fee for them. A fridge on its side in a ravine is still holding it.
- Paint, motor oil, antifreeze, solvents, and pool chemicals are household hazardous waste. In a ditch they go where the rain goes. At Ritson Road they are free.
- Tires and open appliances collect standing water.
- Drywall and shingles break apart in the weather, and the pieces wash into the creek.
What to do instead
Almost everything in a dumped pile had a legal way out, and the first few are free.
Free:
- The City curb. Oshawa's Large Item Collection takes six items per collection on houses and buildings of eight or fewer units, free, booked at least two business days before garbage day. Furniture, mattresses, appliances, and scrap metal qualify. Construction waste, tires, and bags of garbage do not. Measure first: the by-law caps large items at 45 kg and 1.8 m.
- Hazardous waste and electronics. Free at the Oshawa Waste Management Facility, 1640 Ritson Road North: paint, oil, propane tanks, batteries, chemicals, and up to 50 litres or 25 cans per vehicle. Televisions, computers, and other electronics are free in a load of their own.
- Tires: not at Ritson right now. The Region has suspended tire drop-off at all its waste facilities because of an overstock. It asks people to store tires until the suspension lifts, or to use the province's Where to Recycle map. Retailers that sell tires have to take back up to ten a day per person, free, if they are similar to the tires they sell. A stack of tires in a ditch is not a workaround.
Cheap:
- Drive it to Ritson Road yourself. $7 for a load up to 40 kg, $175 a tonne for general waste, $375 a tonne for fill such as concrete and brick, plus $20 per fridge or freezer. Tuesday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Debit or credit only. If it fits in your vehicle, this is the cheapest legal answer for anything the curb refuses.
Hired:
- A trailer with a receipt. Our published rates, before HST: $109–$169 for a single item, $209–$309 for a quarter trailer, $379–$489 for a half, $629–$799 for a full 15-yard trailer. The dump fee is inside the price, and the load goes to Ritson Road. Oshawa is our home base. Curb, Ritson Road, or hire compares all three for an Oshawa address.
How to report it
| What you are seeing | Who to tell |
|---|---|
| Junk on a road, boulevard, ditch, or sidewalk | Service Oshawa: "Litter/debris on road" |
| Junk in a City park or on a trail | Service Oshawa: "Garbage in a park" |
| Junk piling up on a private property | Service Oshawa: "Litter/debris on private property" |
| Someone dumping from a vehicle on a roadside | The Region's illegal dumping form, or Service Oshawa |
| A crime in progress, or a threat to safety | Durham Regional Police, 905-579-1520; 911 in an emergency |
Service Oshawa takes reports at 905-436-3311, service@oshawa.ca, or online around the clock. The City's See it, Report it page lists illegal dumping, garbage, and discarded needles as Service Oshawa matters.
For a by-law complaint, the City asks for your name, address, and phone number, the address of the property, and what you are seeing. Anonymous complaints are not investigated, and your details as the complainant are kept confidential.
Do not confront anyone who is dumping. Get the plate and walk away.
What we will not take
Hazardous waste, asbestos, fuel, and vehicles stay off our trailer too. What we cannot take lists each one and where it goes instead. Most of them go to Ritson Road for free.
Found a pile on your lot, or have one you would rather not explain to a by-law officer? Send photos. You get a price before we come, and a receipt from the dump after.
Frequently asked questions
We run junk removal across Durham Region — Oshawa, Whitby, Ajax, Pickering, Clarington, Uxbridge, Scugog, and Brock. We price jobs from customer photos so the number you're told is the number you pay.