Illegal dumping has plagued Oakland for years. And the scale of the problem is hard to overstate: the city received over 25,000 calls for service last year reporting illegal dumping, and city crews removed at least 15 million pounds of trash. That’s a little lower than 2024, when the city collected roughly 18 million pounds of illegally dumped trash.

As part of a multi-pronged strategy to deal with this problem, Mayor Barbara Lee, like past mayors and other current and former city officials, has repeatedly promised to hold illegal dumpers to account with stiff financial penalties and even criminal charges.

But measures meant to deter and punish illegal dumpers aren’t working, according to city data. 

Out of the many thousands of illegal dumping incidents reported, Oakland Public Works was only able to issue approximately 270 citations for illegal dumping in 2025, totaling roughly $228,000, according to data obtained by The Oaklandside. 

So far, the city has collected fines from 25 of the individuals cited, worth approximately $21,534. 

In 53 cases, people successfully appealed their fines. Six cases were resolved with community service. 

189 cases are still unresolved, which means there has been no response yet from the cited individual.

Based on citation data, illegal dumping continues to disproportionately affect residents living in deep East Oakland. More than than 33% of the tickets issued last year were for dumping that took place in District 7.

Councilmember Ken Houston, who represents District 7, said fines for illegal dumping are equivalent to a “Band-Aid.” 

“It doesn’t work, it’s not a good choice of how to deter illegal dumping,” Houston said, adding that the city needs to collect evidence on dumping to give to the District Attorney so there can be criminal prosecutions. 

The struggle to collect fines is not a new issue for Oakland

In 2024, KTVU reported that Oakland had issued almost 3,000 citations over the previous three years. But of the $1.3 million owed the city, Oakland only collected $109,000, or roughly 11%. 

John Rowan, who led public works at the time, said Oakland was exploring potential fixes, such as redesigning streets to make it harder to dump, installing more surveillance cameras, and doing a better job of collecting money from fines. 

Liam Garland, the current public works director, told The Oaklandside his department is taking steps to strengthen its illegal dumping program.

“We’re expanding our Environmental Enforcement Unit by hiring additional staff and adopting new processes and technologies to streamline how citations are issued and collected,” Garland said in a statement. “The city is also looking to increase fines to help deter dumping.”

Public works plans to equip its environmental enforcement officers with handheld devices so they can issue and document citations on the spot. The department is exploring how to streamline data sharing between its staff, who issue citations, and the finance department, which collects the fines. 

Garland said that enforcement is part of a broader strategy that includes public education and faster abatement. 

In October, Lee announced that Public Works would deploy additional crews to clean dump sites over weekends. The department also wants to raise awareness about free or affordable options for disposing of waste, such as Oakland’s bulky waste pickups, which are available to residents. 

Faced with mounting public anger, officials are crafting a law to address illegal waste

In January, nearly 1,000 residents convened at Allen Temple Baptist Church in East Oakland to express frustration and anger with city leaders over trash piling up on streets. According to reporting by KTVU, several urged the city to follow the county’s lead, where officials have crafted model legislation to impose severe fines of up to $10,000 on people caught repeatedly dumping waste. Oakland currently issues fines of up to $750 for a first offense and $1,500 for a third offense.  

Dr. Ida Oberman, a member of Faith in Action East Bay,  said her organization and others are committed to helping the city adopt and implement a new illegal dumping ordinance. In addition to the enforcement piece, Oberman said activists and residents want Oakland leaders to invest in prevention-based strategies, such as lowering fees for residential trash pickup. Oberman said Councilmember Zac Unger is working on a draft ordinance, and that former Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, who was hired by the city last year, is also involved. 

Unger, who took a brief call while he was picking up trash in his district, told The Oaklandside, “I think we need to do a much better job of enforcing our laws and making sure people who dump on our streets are held to account.” But he declined to speak about any new laws for the time being.

Oberman, who works with Faith in Action East Bay’s illegal dumping local organizing committee, has been fighting illegal dumping for years. According to Oberman, Oakland generated 1,587 tons of illegal dumping in 2015. In 2022, it was 9,477 tons. But she expressed confidence that change might be around the corner. 

“We’re hopeful, and I don’t think this is just dreaming, that we have the possibility of Oakland being a model for the state,” Oberman said.

It’s unclear when a new ordinance will be brought to city council. 

The mayor’s involvement

Cracking down on illegal dumping has been one of Lee’s stated priorities since her election last April. Her chief of staff, Miya Saika Chen, told The Oaklandside, “It’s infuriating how dirty it is out there,” and said the city is working on multiple fronts to address illegal dumping.

Saika Chen acknowledged that collecting fines is a challenge. 

“We have to make sure that the city is collecting when we’re issuing fines,” she said. “That’s a basic way to deter and make sure the laws that we pass are being enforced.”

As part of her initial 10-point plan, Lee also promised to partner with the district attorney to “aggressively prosecute illegal dumping.” When we asked Lee about this in August, she said there hadn’t been any prosecutions, but that her office had established a working group with the DA and was developing a protocol for going after illegal dumpers.

Public Works told The Oaklandside that the city has not referred any cases to the Alameda County District Attorney for prosecution, saying that the department doesn’t have a system in place for doing this.

Saika Chen said Lee has a strong working relationship with DA Ursula Jones Dickson, and that she understands this is a big priority for the mayor. The DA has shared with the mayor that her office is willing to prosecute cases if the city will share the evidence needed to build cases, she said.

The Alameda County District Attorney did not respond to questions from The Oaklandside. We previously asked the DA for historical data to understand how many times the office has charged illegal dumping-related crimes and received no response.

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