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

California SB 1383 (the Short-Lived Climate Pollutants law, effective January 1, 2022) requires residents, businesses, and multifamily properties statewide to separate organic waste (food scraps, food-soiled paper, yard trimmings) from trash and either subscribe to organics collection or self-haul to an appropriate facility. Because Yuba County's population (roughly 83,000) exceeds the 70,000 low-population threshold, there is no blanket countywide rural exemption — SB 1383 applies. Locally, this is implemented by the Regional Waste Management Authority (RWMA) Mandatory Organic Waste Disposal Reduction Ordinance (No. 22-1), under which single-family residences must place organic materials in the designated organics container (green cart) — Recology Yuba-Sutter's green cart takes leaves, grass clippings, branches, weeds, food scraps such as banana peels and chicken bones, and food-soiled paper — or self-haul recyclables and organics to a recycling or composting facility. Residents must not put organic waste in the refuse cart. The RWMA conducts SB 1383-mandated annual route reviews. The exception is single-family residences in designated Low-Population Census Tract Areas with approved CalRecycle waivers; in unincorporated Yuba County these include Census Tracts 409.01, 409.02, 410.01, 410.02, 411.01, and 411.02, where residents may grasscycle, home-compost, use local recycling centers, or self-haul instead. Qualified customers may also collect up to 50 gallons of finished compost twice yearly at the Recology Transfer Station.