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

Mandatory organics recycling in unincorporated Santa Barbara County is driven by California SB 1383, the state's Short-Lived Climate Pollutants law, which took effect January 1, 2022 and targets a 75% reduction in organic waste sent to landfills by 2025. SB 1383 requires jurisdictions to provide organics collection and requires residents and businesses to participate; jurisdictions must educate and ultimately enforce. Santa Barbara County implements SB 1383 differently by region, depending on infrastructure. For the South Coast and the Santa Ynez and Cuyama valleys, residents keep food scraps in their regular trash: their waste is processed at the County's Tajiguas Landfill ReSource Center, which mechanically recovers about 75% of organics from the mixed-waste stream for composting and clean energy, so these residents 'see no changes in their trash collection process' and do not source-separate food scraps at home. For unincorporated North County (Santa Maria and Lompoc valleys, including Los Alamos, Vandenberg Village, and Orcutt), residents must separate food scraps from the trash and place them, along with food-soiled paper and yard waste, into their green carts; weekly green-cart service was added, and free kitchen pails are offered. SB 1383 also mandates edible-food recovery: Tier 1 generators (supermarkets, large grocery stores, food distributors and wholesalers) since January 1, 2022, and Tier 2 generators (large restaurants, hotels, health facilities, large venues, schools) since January 1, 2024, must donate surplus edible food. Most businesses must subscribe to organics service unless granted a waiver after County evaluation.