Alameda, CA Trash & Recycling: Mandatory Organics Recycling (2026)

Mandatory organics recycling applies in the City of Alameda. California's SB 1383 (signed 2016, in effect Jan 1, 2022) requires jurisdictions to provide organic-waste collection to all residents and businesses and to cut organic-waste disposal 75% by 2025. Alameda implements SB 1383 through Alameda County's Organics Reduction and Recycling Ordinance (ORRO / StopWaste) and the County Solid Waste Collection and Organic Waste Reduction Regulations: all residents and businesses must subscribe to organics (compost) collection through an authorized hauler—Alameda County Industries (ACI) in the City of Alameda—and separate food scraps, food-soiled paper, plant debris, and untreated wood from trash, unless a waiver is granted. ACI provides green organics carts (sizes 13, 20, 32, 64, and 96 gallons). Food-service businesses face an added SB 1383 duty: starting in 2022, they must donate edible food that would otherwise be wasted to food-recovery organizations. With a population around 78,000—well above SB 1383's small/rural thresholds—the City of Alameda is not eligible for the rural exemption, so the full organics mandate applies. ORRO enforcement mirrors the recycling rule: warning, a 60-day cure period, then citations with fines escalating up to $500 for sites without required compost service. These mandates come from state law and the county ordinance, layered over the City's solid-waste code (AMC Chapter XXI).