
Is It Illegal to Throw Your Dog’s Poop In Someone Else’s Trash Bin in Minnesota?
You're out walking your dog on a nice Minnesota evening. Then it happens. Your dog stops to do his stinky business. You grab your poop bag and pick up the mess and continue walking. Then, you spot a trash can at someone's home. You think to yourself, 'Jackpot, I can just toss the bag in here and I don't have to carry it anymore'.
Wrong. No, no, don't even think about it. I'm looking at you, the lady who had the audacity to walk all the way up our driveway to the side of our house to put her dog's poop in our trash bin. We, like most other people, have security cameras and saw you.
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It definitely feels like a weird invasion of privacy when someone does something like that. But is that technically illegal?

Is It Illegal to Put Your Trash in Someone Else's Trash Bin?
According to Minnesota Statute 609.68, it's against the law to dispose of trash on private property without permission. If you do this it's considered a petty misdemeanor, which could cost you up to $300. Here's the whole thing in case you want all of the legal jargon:
Whoever unlawfully deposits garbage, rubbish, cigarette filters, debris from fireworks, offal, or the body of a dead animal, or other litter in or upon any public highway, public waters or the ice thereon, shoreland areas adjacent to rivers or streams as defined by section 103F.205, public lands, or, without the consent of the owner, private lands or water or ice thereon, is guilty of a petty misdemeanor.
On the City of Minneapolis' website, they refer to this as 'illegal dumping'. They define illegal dumping as "putting household or commercial garbage, litter or other items" on someone's private property without permission, "into any garbage cart, dumpster or receptacle on someone else’s property", or in a public trash bin.
When I brought up what happened at our house with some co-workers (who are also dog owners) they mentioned that sometimes when they're out walking if it's trash day, the bin is out, and the trash hasn't been picked up sometimes they'll toss their dog's poop in there. I've done that before too, and while it's far more acceptable, it's technically still illegal.
If it's trash day and the trash hasn't been picked up, you can put your dog's poop in there all you want. But once you make the effort to walk up to my house, that's kind of disrespectful.
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Gallery Credit: Carly Ross
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