Sacramento County, CA Landscaping Rules: Composting (2026)

California's SB 1383 is a statewide short-lived-climate-pollutant law requiring jurisdictions to divert organic waste from landfills, with a target of cutting organic-waste disposal sharply by 2025. Sacramento County implements SB 1383 for unincorporated residents through its Department of Waste Management and Recycling. The County converted the former green-waste (yard-trimmings) cart into an Organics cart and, beginning July 4, 2022, moved to weekly collection. The Organics cart now accepts food scraps, food-soiled paper, untreated wood, and yard trimmings together. Because SB 1383 is an unfunded state mandate, the County Board of Supervisors approved phased residential rate increases for garbage, recycling, and organics collection beginning July 2022 and continuing annually. Home composting is encouraged as a complementary practice; the County provides backyard-composting education and seasonal self-serve compost, but participating in curbside organics collection is the default requirement rather than something residents opt out of by composting at home. SB 1383 also establishes commercial edible-food-recovery obligations for certain food-generating businesses, which the County administers separately from residential curbside service. The bottom line for an unincorporated-area household: keep food scraps and yard trimmings out of the trash and place them in the Organics cart for weekly pickup, and home-compost if you wish, but the curbside organics program is the governing compliance mechanism. Confirm exactly which materials your route accepts with County Waste Management and Recycling.