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

SB 1383 is California's statewide short-lived climate pollutant law requiring a 75% reduction in organic-waste disposal and a 20% increase in edible-food recovery. However, the regulations include a rural-jurisdiction exemption for counties that meet the 'Rural Jurisdiction' definition in Public Resources Code section 42649.8. Siskiyou County is explicitly named among the 19 California counties with fewer than 70,000 residents that are exempt from SB 1383's organic-waste collection and procurement obligations (the others include Trinity, Modoc, Lassen, Del Norte, Plumas, Mono, Sierra, Alpine, and similar low-population counties). This means there is no mandatory countywide curbside organics/green-cart collection requirement for residents and businesses in unincorporated Siskiyou County — consistent with the County's self-haul transfer-station model. What rural-exempt jurisdictions must still do under SB 1383 is the edible food recovery component (recovering surplus edible food from commercial generators for people, not landfills) plus universal requirements like recycled-content paper procurement. Siskiyou County implemented edible food recovery through 'Ordinance SWJPA-2022-01: Edible Food Recovery Ordinance,' adopted by the Siskiyou County Solid Waste Joint Powers Authority / Integrated Waste Management Regional Agency, which sets donation requirements for Commercial Edible Food Generators. The rural collection exemption has been the subject of recent legislation (AB 2902, 2024) aimed at extending it for these 19 counties. Residents can still voluntarily compost or self-haul green/yard waste (charged at $10.15/cubic yard).