Contra Costa County, CA Trash & Recycling: Collection Schedule (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing chapter
- Ordinance Code Chapter 418-6
- Minimum frequency
- Weekly collection required
- Subscription duty
- Property owner, not individual tenant
- Exemption
- Vacant property or no service available
- Nonpayment result
- Presumed nuisance, county subscribes, lien
Summary
Every home and business in unincorporated Contra Costa County must subscribe to weekly trash pickup, not just own a can. Chapter 418-6 requires owners of rented houses, apartments and commercial premises to pay a licensed collector for service at least once a week or face a presumed nuisance and a county-ordered subscription.
Every owner and/or person required by Section 418-6.006 hereof to provide and keep containers shall, except as provided in Section 418-6.012, subscribe with a collector for the collection and disposal of solid waste, such service to be provided on a basis not less frequent than once each week, except that in the case of any leased or rented single-family dwelling house, or any leased or rented apartment, flat, duplex or multiple-family dwelling, the owner and/or person shall subscribe to such collection and disposal service for each family residing therein and shall bear the responsibility for payment of the charges for such collection and disposal services to the collector.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Ordinance Code: Supplement 103).
Full Breakdown
006: every hotel, restaurant, boardinghouse, dwelling house, or food-handling establishment must keep a compliant container on the premises, and owners of rented single-family homes, apartments, flats, duplexes or other multifamily buildings must provide at least one container per family. 008 then makes subscription itself mandatory: anyone required to provide containers must subscribe with a permitted collector under Chapter 418-2 for solid waste collection and disposal service at least once a week. For rented housing, the property owner bears responsibility for subscribing and paying for each family's collection and disposal service, not the tenant individually.
012 lets the health officer exempt a property if it's unoccupied, if no collector serves that area, or if the health officer finds no unsanitary condition or nuisance will result without service. 016.
Violations & Fines
Failing to maintain a weekly collection subscription triggers a nuisance finding under Section 418-6.010, not a criminal fine. After a fifteen-day notice period with no compliance or hearing request, the health officer can order the county to subscribe with a collector on the owner's behalf, then bill the owner for those collection and administrative costs as a lien against the real property itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often does my collector have to pick up trash in unincorporated Contra Costa?
Who is responsible for the trash subscription in a rental property?
Can I skip trash service if my house is vacant?
What happens if I never subscribe to trash pickup?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Contra Costa County
California rules heatmap·Compare Contra Costa County to another location·View the California trash & recycling overview
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