Santa Barbara County, CA Trash & Recycling: Collection Schedule (2026)

Santa Barbara County Code Sec. 17-3 puts the Board of Supervisors in charge of "the hours, days and frequency of collection, means of collection and transportation, level of services, charges and fees" for solid waste handling in the unincorporated area; that schedule is fixed by resolution and franchise/contract terms rather than printed as a single countywide timetable in the Code itself. Sec. 17-6 backs this up with a mandatory-subscription power: the Board may require any person or responsible party in a dwelling unit within urban boundary lines or a developed rural area, as designated in the county general plan, to subscribe to an authorized collector, though the director can waive that if maintaining the required service level is infeasible or unnecessary.

Isla Vista gets a specific numeric floor under Sec. 17-7: every multi-unit dwelling owner must provide service equal to one 32-gallon container twice per week per bedroom per unit, capped at seven cans (beyond that, a commercial bin is required), and every single-family dwelling owner must provide one 32-gallon container twice weekly. If the owner fails to arrange it, the director may direct the collector to provide the service anyway and bill the owner; unpaid balances over 60 days can be assessed against the property.

Containers generally may not sit at the curb more than 24 hours before the scheduled pickup and must come back off the curb within 12 hours after collection (Sec. 17-8(b)). Failure to maintain the required Isla Vista service level is itself declared a public nuisance abatable under Article V of Chapter 17.