Porterville, CA Trash & Recycling: Mandatory Organics Recycling (2026)

Porterville Municipal Code § 13-25 folds the state's SB 1383 short-lived climate pollutant law into the city's own solid waste chapter. Subsection A makes every residential premises, multifamily complex, commercial customer, franchised hauler and generator subject to the Act, backed by the penalties in 14 CCR § 18997.2, the chapter's own § 13-24 penalty, or an administrative citation under City Code Chapter 2, Article XIV.

Under § 13-25.B.1, residential premises are automatically enrolled in the city's three-container collection services for garbage, recyclable materials, and organic waste including food waste. Commercial premises, and multifamily complexes of five units or more, must instead arrange their own diversion, either through the city's franchised hauler or by self-hauling to a permitted facility, and generators must sort food waste into the organic cart, recyclables into the recycling cart, and garbage into the garbage cart, never mixing them.

Commercial and multifamily property owners carry container, labeling, and outreach duties: supplying enough properly colored or labeled containers for employees and customers in every area where disposal bins sit (restrooms excepted), giving annual education on sorting rules, briefing new tenants within fourteen days of move-in, and letting the city inspect for compliance. Commercial premises additionally have to train employees not to cross-contaminate bins and periodically inspect their own containers.

A commercial customer can seek a waiver from some or all organics requirements. A de minimis waiver is available if weekly organic waste comes in under 20 gallons for accounts generating two cubic yards or more of waste a week, or under 10 gallons for smaller accounts; a physical-space waiver is available with documentation that the property has no room for the extra containers. Waivers run for up to five years and are decided by the Director or designee.