La Mesa, CA Trash & Recycling: Bin Placement Rules (2026)

Section 7.20.075 sets La Mesa's cart placement and set-out schedule. Subsection (g) bars putting refuse at the curb or rear alley more than twelve hours before the scheduled pickup day, and subsection (h) requires every container to be removed from the curb or rear alley the same day pickup service is rendered, so carts cannot sit at the street for days at a time. Subsection (a) requires every tenant, lessee, occupant, hotel keeper, restaurant, boarding house or business generating refuse to provide sufficient gray, blue and green containers, or one-way bags, filled no higher than four inches from the top, with the exterior of the receptacles and their covers kept free of accumulated grease or decomposing material.

Subsection (e) separately makes refuse left lying loose on public property for more than twenty-four hours an encroachment. Yard waste such as grass clippings, leaves, branches and tree limbs must go in the green organic-waste container under subsections (b) and (c), newspapers and magazines go in the blue container under subsection (d), and cardboard must be flattened or cut down to fit inside the blue container under subsection (f). Commercial businesses that elect to self-haul instead of using city containers must still meet the Section 7.30.090 self-hauler standards referenced throughout the section.