Iowa Code » Chapter 808 — SEARCH AND SEIZURE
Iowa Code

Iowa Code § 808.16 (2026)

Exception to search warrant requirement — garbage searches

✓ current as of July 2026
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1. It is the public policy of this state that a person has no reasonable expectation of privacy in garbage placed outside of the person’s residence for waste collection in a publicly accessible area.

2. A city or county shall only adopt an ordinance or a regulation concerning waste management and sanitation for the purposes of promoting public health and cleanliness. An ordinance or a regulation adopted by a city or county shall not be construed by a person to create a reasonable expectation of privacy in garbage placed outside of the person’s residence for waste collection in a publicly accessible area.

3. Garbage placed outside of a person’s residence for waste collection in a publicly accessible area shall be deemed abandoned property and shall not be considered to be constitutionally protected papers or effects of the person.

4. A peace officer may conduct a search and may seize garbage placed outside of a person’s residence for waste collection in a publicly accessible area without making an application for a search warrant. 2022 Acts, ch 1022, §1\n\nTue Dec 09 21:54:09 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 808 (40, 1) \n

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 5 cases (5 in the last 5 years), 2024–2025 · leading case: State of Iowa v. Charles Aaron Amble & John Joseph Mandracchia (Iowa 2025).
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State of Iowa v. Charles Aaron Amble & John Joseph Mandracchia (Iowa 2025). · cites it 92× “1022 (codified at Iowa Code § 808.16 ). The obvious purpose of the statute is to restore the authority of law enforcement to conduct warrantless searches of garbage placed out for collection in a public area not within the curtilage of a private home.”
State of Iowa v. Charles Aaron Amble & John Joseph Mandracchia (Iowa 2025). · cites it 92× “1022 (codified at Iowa Code § 808.16 ). The obvious purpose of the statute is to restore the authority of law enforcement to conduct warrantless searches of garbage placed out for collection in a public area not within the curtilage of a private home.”
State v. Lowman (Iowa Ct. App. 2025). · cites it 12× “Lowman asserts the district court improperly denied his motion to suppress the evidence because the warrantless search and seizure of his trash and Iowa Code section 808.16(3) are unconstitutional. Lowman argues that evidence found in his garbage placed for waste collection is…”
State of Iowa v. Kyra Rose Bauler (Iowa 2024). · cites it 2× “1022, § 1 (codified at Iowa Code § 808.16 (2023))), the foregoing passage from Wright indicates that article I, section 8 protections against trespass are supreme and that the legislature is powerless to circumvent them.”
State of Iowa v. Joellen Marie Eckert (Iowa Ct. App. 2024). · cites it 2× “As the district court observed, Eckert had removed the cover of the vacuum cleaner with some sort of tool and “was going through the contents of the [machine], not trash that had been left out to be taken away.”
— Iowa Code § 808.16(1) — 3 cases
State of Iowa v. Joellen Marie Eckert (Iowa Ct. App. 2024). “As the district court observed, Eckert had removed the cover of the vacuum cleaner with some sort of tool and “was going through the contents of the [machine], not trash that had been left out to be taken away.”
State of Iowa v. Charles Aaron Amble & John Joseph Mandracchia (Iowa 2025). “1022 (codified at Iowa Code § 808.16 ). The obvious purpose of the statute is to restore the authority of law enforcement to conduct warrantless searches of garbage placed out for collection in a public area not within the curtilage of a private home.”
State of Iowa v. Charles Aaron Amble & John Joseph Mandracchia (Iowa 2025). “1022 (codified at Iowa Code § 808.16 ). The obvious purpose of the statute is to restore the authority of law enforcement to conduct warrantless searches of garbage placed out for collection in a public area not within the curtilage of a private home.”
— Iowa Code § 808.16(2) — 2 cases
State of Iowa v. Charles Aaron Amble & John Joseph Mandracchia (Iowa 2025). “1022 (codified at Iowa Code § 808.16 ). The obvious purpose of the statute is to restore the authority of law enforcement to conduct warrantless searches of garbage placed out for collection in a public area not within the curtilage of a private home.”
State of Iowa v. Charles Aaron Amble & John Joseph Mandracchia (Iowa 2025). “1022 (codified at Iowa Code § 808.16 ). The obvious purpose of the statute is to restore the authority of law enforcement to conduct warrantless searches of garbage placed out for collection in a public area not within the curtilage of a private home.”
— Iowa Code § 808.16(3) — 3 cases
State of Iowa v. Charles Aaron Amble & John Joseph Mandracchia (Iowa 2025). “1022 (codified at Iowa Code § 808.16 ). The obvious purpose of the statute is to restore the authority of law enforcement to conduct warrantless searches of garbage placed out for collection in a public area not within the curtilage of a private home.”
State of Iowa v. Charles Aaron Amble & John Joseph Mandracchia (Iowa 2025). “1022 (codified at Iowa Code § 808.16 ). The obvious purpose of the statute is to restore the authority of law enforcement to conduct warrantless searches of garbage placed out for collection in a public area not within the curtilage of a private home.”
State v. Lowman (Iowa Ct. App. 2025). “Lowman asserts the district court improperly denied his motion to suppress the evidence because the warrantless search and seizure of his trash and Iowa Code section 808.16(3) are unconstitutional. Lowman argues that evidence found in his garbage placed for waste collection is…”
— Iowa Code § 808.16(4) — 2 cases
State of Iowa v. Charles Aaron Amble & John Joseph Mandracchia (Iowa 2025). “1022 (codified at Iowa Code § 808.16 ). The obvious purpose of the statute is to restore the authority of law enforcement to conduct warrantless searches of garbage placed out for collection in a public area not within the curtilage of a private home.”
State of Iowa v. Charles Aaron Amble & John Joseph Mandracchia (Iowa 2025). “1022 (codified at Iowa Code § 808.16 ). The obvious purpose of the statute is to restore the authority of law enforcement to conduct warrantless searches of garbage placed out for collection in a public area not within the curtilage of a private home.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.