Diving for Trash: Is It Illegal in Yakima?

I live in an apartment complex and there's a guy who is always digging through our garbage. He is not a homeless/unhoused person, he just regularly comes by to dig through our trash.

One of my neighbors mentioned to me that she is always having to clean up the sidewalk near the alley entrance to her apartment because the man pulls out a trash bag from our garbage, sifts through it to get what he wants, and then leaves the open bag of trash right there on the sidewalk.

One evening last week, I had thrown away a bag of clothes that were no longer usable for wearing. The next morning, I saw my bag of clothes strewn all over the sidewalk. The dumpster diver strikes again!

My neighbor says that the man has permission from our apartment manager to dumpster dive, but I began to wonder if it was legal for him to be digging through our stuff like that.

I researched the Yakima City Ordinance to find clues, like Scooby Doo and the gang!

Title 4, Health and Sanitation and Chapter 4.16.190: "Only authorized persons to remove garbage covers."

Unless you are authorized to empty trash from city receptacles, it is illegal to dumpster dive.

The only exception to this rule is if you have permission from the owner of the home, someone who is in charge of the property, a City of Yakima employee, or a licensed trash collector.

I contacted my local city council representative for clarification and will come back to update this article and let you know what they say as soon as I get the word!

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