National City, CA Trash & Recycling: Mandatory Organics Recycling (2026)

National City Municipal Code § 9.52.030 requires single-family organic waste generators to subscribe to the city's organic waste collection services for all organic waste they generate. The city reserves the right to review the number and size of a household's containers to judge whether the capacity fits each type of collection service, and a generator must adjust its service level when the city asks. Under subsection C, residents place source separated green container organic waste, including food waste, in the green container, source separated recyclable materials in the blue container, and gray container waste in the gray container. Nothing designated for the gray container goes into the green or blue container, and prohibited container contaminants stay out of every collection container.

Commercial businesses fall under § 9.52.040, which requires subscribing to the city's three container collection services and gives the city the same right to review container number, size and collection frequency. Businesses must periodically inspect their blue, green and gray containers for contamination and tell employees when a container is contaminated. They must give employees, contractors, tenants and customers information on organic waste recovery once a year, and give new tenants education information before or within fourteen days of occupancy. Businesses must also give the city or its agent access to the property during inspections. Tier one and tier two commercial edible food generators carry additional food recovery duties under § 9.52.060.

The chapter builds in escape valves. Section 9.52.080 lets the city grant a commercial business a de minimis waiver, a physical space waiver where the premises lack room for the containers, or a collection frequency waiver allowing pickup of the blue container, gray container or both once every fourteen days rather than once per week. Self-haulers can deliver their own recyclable and organic materials to a processing facility under § 9.52.050 but must keep receipts or weight tickets as proof. Inspections under § 9.52.190 cannot reach the interior of private residential property, and the city accepts written complaints, including anonymous ones, about suspected non-compliance with SB 1383 Regulations. Chapter 9.52 was adopted by Ord. No. 2021-2489 on 6-1-2021.