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

The rule, part of the county's SB 1383 implementation, works in both directions. First, each material type must land in its designated container, so food waste belongs in the organic waste container rather than in the trash. Second, generators may not contaminate the diversion streams: materials designated for the refuse container cannot be placed into the organic waste container or the recycling container. The duty sits on the generator, the household producing the waste, which is why the section is written as what generators shall and shall not place in each container.

The section allows a single carve-out. If organic waste, recyclable materials, and refuse are all processed at a high diversion processing facility, as that term is defined in Section 4741-46 of the same article, the container-by-container separation duty does not apply. Whether that exception covers a household depends on how its material is actually processed, not on the household's own preference. The requirement applies to single-family generators in unincorporated Ventura County.