Davis, CA Trash & Recycling: Mandatory Organics Recycling (2026)
Key Facts
- Organics container
- Green container: food, food-soiled paper, yard waste
- Prohibited mixing
- Organics barred from gray, dark blue, light blue
- Underlying state law
- SB 1383 methane-reduction mandate
- First-violation fine
- $100
- Correction window
- 60 days after notice
Summary
Davis requires every customer to separate food scraps, food-soiled paper and yard waste into the green container and keep it out of the gray, dark blue and light blue containers under Municipal Code Section 32.01.065. The rule implements the state's SB 1383 organics mandate and applies to single-family homes and commercial businesses alike.
All customers and generators shall not place prohibited contaminants in containers and shall source separate their solid waste consistent with the following requirements: ... (3) All customers and generators shall separate source separated green container organic waste from other solid waste generated on the property and shall not deposit source separated green container organic waste in the gray container, the dark blue container, the light blue container or the split blue container.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: rev 4915048; v22 updated 2026-05-19).
Full Breakdown
065 of the Davis Municipal Code requires every customer and generator to source separate their waste stream into the correct container and keep prohibited contaminants out of each one. Subsection (a)(1) bars mixing dark blue container material into the gray, green or light blue containers. Subsection (a)(2) bars mixing light blue non-organic recyclables into the gray, green or dark blue containers. Subsection (a)(3), the organics rule, requires customers to separate green container organic waste, meaning food waste, food-soiled paper and yard waste, from the rest of their solid waste and bars depositing it in the gray, dark blue, light blue or split blue container.
Subsection (a)(4) requires gray container waste and hazardous waste to stay out of the green, dark blue and light blue containers. Subsection (a)(5) requires cardboard over two cubic feet when flattened to be kept separate from every other container and set out only through the cardboard collection service. Subsections (b) and (c) extend the same source-separation duty to street piles: only yard waste may go in an on-street yard waste pile, and only oversized flattened cardboard may go in a curbside cardboard pile, with hazardous waste or other solid waste barred from both.
The article was amended by Ordinance 2447 in 2015 and Ordinance 2614 in 2021 to build in the organics-separation duties that California's SB 1383 methane-reduction law requires cities to enforce.
Violations & Fines
Failing to source separate organic waste and recyclables under Section 32.01.065 is enforced under Section 32.01.125. A code compliance administrator issues a notice of violation, and failure to correct it within sixty days makes the violation an infraction: one hundred dollars for a first violation, two hundred dollars for a second within six months, and five hundred dollars for a third or later violation within a year. The city can instead use the administrative citation process under Article 1.02.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to separate food scraps from my trash in Davis?
What happens if I put cardboard in the wrong bin?
Can I put grass clippings in an on-street yard waste pile?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Davis
California rules heatmap·Compare Davis to another location·View the California trash & recycling overview
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Mandatory Organics Recycling in Nearby Cities
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