San Leandro, CA Landscaping Rules: Composting (2026)

SLMC § 3-6-230(a)(2) generally bars burying solid waste, recyclables, and green waste, except explicitly "as part of home composting," giving San Leandro residents a clear right to compost yard trimmings and food scraps at home rather than burying trash. The city's mandatory organics ordinance, Chapter 3-24, adopted to comply with SB 1383, requires single-family generators under § 3-24-300 to subscribe to the franchisee's compost-container collection service, but the same section allows generators to instead manage organic waste on site or use a community composting site "to the extent permitted by other applicable laws," and generators who meet the self-hauler requirements of § 3-24-900 are excused from the subscription mandate entirely.

Chapter 3-24's definitions section, § 3-24-200, sets the scale limit for anything larger than backyard composting: "Community Composting" is defined as an activity that composts green, agricultural, food, and vegetative food material where the total feedstock and compost on-site at any one time does not exceed 100 cubic yards and 750 square feet, tracking the state limits in 14 CCR § 17855(a)(4). The enforcement agency for single-family generator compliance is the member agency (the City or its designee) under § 3-24-300(c), and Chapter 3-24 explicitly bars agency inspectors from entering a private residential dwelling unit under § 3-24-1000(a).