Alpine County, CA Trash & Recycling: Mandatory Organics Recycling (2026)

California's SB 1383 (the Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Act of 2016) generally requires jurisdictions to provide organic-waste (green/food-waste) collection. However, SB 1383 lets 'rural jurisdictions' apply to CalRecycle for an exemption from the organic-waste collection requirements (14 CCR sections 18984-18984.14). Alpine County is one of California's 19 counties with fewer than 70,000 residents and, at roughly 1,200 people and high Sierra elevation, also fits the low-population (under 7,500) and elevation (4,500+ feet) waiver profiles. As a result, there is no mandatory residential green-cart or food-scrap collection program in Alpine County. The rural exemption is being phased out under state law, with eligibility reassessment and potential implementation of collection requirements targeted around January 1, 2027, so residents should expect this to evolve. The collection exemption does NOT excuse the edible-food-recovery half of SB 1383. Alpine County adopted Chapter 8.58, Edible Food Waste Recovery (Ord. 748, 2022), to implement that mandate locally. Section 8.58.010 explains SB 1383 'requires local governments to adopt and enforce an ordinance... to implement provisions of SB 1383,' and the chapter requires commercial edible-food generators to arrange for the maximum amount of surplus edible food to be recovered for human consumption, with recordkeeping, capacity planning, and inspection/enforcement beginning January 1, 2024.