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

276, "Mandatory organic waste recycling," phased commercial diversion in on a fixed timetable. Starting April 1, 2016, commercial businesses generating eight cubic yards or more of organic waste per week had to subscribe to and maintain organic waste recycling service. Starting July 1, 2016, commercial businesses on industrial-zoned property generating four cubic yards or more of refuse per week were added to the mandate. Starting January 1, 2017, nonindustrial commercial businesses generating four cubic yards or more of organic waste per week were folded in, and by January 1, 2019, that same nonindustrial threshold dropped to four cubic yards of total refuse per week, capturing far more businesses than the original 2016 rule.

As with the recycling mandate, a business is treated as already subscribed if its collector routes containers through a material recovery facility for mixed-waste processing, and the City Manager or designee can grant an exemption for insufficient container storage space. 190 must provide organic waste collection and recycling service to businesses covered by the mandate, and businesses that self-haul or donate their organic waste instead must supply the City with disposal or donation receipts as proof. Subsection (h) makes it unlawful to place anything that isn't organic waste, or an approved compostable trash bag, in a container designated for organic waste, closing the loop on contamination the same way the recycling rules do.