San Mateo County, CA Property Maintenance: Trash Bin Storage (2026)

Under Chapter 4.04 of the San Mateo County Code (Title 4, Sanitation and Health), the County establishes minimum curbside service levels for all properties in the Service Area used for residential purposes. Section 4.04.200 provides that the County will pay the cost of the minimum service levels set forth in Section 4.04.220 to the company or companies authorized by the Board of Supervisors for collection and removal of solid waste and single-stream targeted recyclable materials, and that the resulting service charges are reported (per Section 4.04.250) and collected along with the property tax. Owners of residential property in the Service Area must contract with the authorized company for any service in excess of the minimum levels and pay the Board-set rates. The County Health Officer may require greater service levels at specific properties when appropriate or necessary for health or safety reasons. In practice the base residential service includes one garbage cart, one recycling cart, and one organics (compost) cart, with garbage, recycling, and compost collected once a week; additional or larger carts are billed at higher rates. Recology San Mateo County is the franchised hauler for County franchised areas including North Fair Oaks (County Service Area 8), while other unincorporated pockets are served by haulers such as GreenWaste/Greenwaste Recovery, Republic Services, South San Francisco Scavenger, and Kunz Valley Trash under non-exclusive franchise agreements.