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

Ordinance Code § 4-03-1150 states that within any Service Area established under Article 5 of Chapter 4-03, "the owner of each premises used as an occupied residence, place of business, or other building or place where persons reside, congregate or are employed, shall subscribe to and thereafter use regularly scheduled collection service with the appropriate County Franchise Hauler Solid Waste Collector or another Solid Waste collection service provider appropriately authorized by the Solid Waste Director," with subsection (a) fixing January 1, 1997 as the compliance date for all Urban Area Boundaries on the valley floor up to the Foothill Rate Division Line.

The only ways out of that subscription duty are the exemptions built into the same chapter: an Inaccessible Property Exemption under §§ 4-03-1155 through 4-03-1158 for premises the Franchise Hauler cannot physically reach, and a Recycling Exemption under §§ 4-03-1165 through 4-03-1168 for an owner who can show all recyclable waste generated on the premises is being recycled. Each Franchise Hauler must in turn provide collection service at least once a week within its authorized Service Area under § 4-03-1275(c). The Solid Waste Director designates and maps the Service Areas by resolution of the Board of Supervisors under § 4-03-1195.