Sunnyvale, CA Trash & Recycling: Mandatory Organics Recycling (2026)
Key Facts
- Tier one deadline
- January 1, 2022
- Tier two deadline
- January 1, 2024
- First tier-one report
- Due August 1, 2022
- Ongoing reports
- Annually by May 1
- Enforcing section
- SMC Sec. 8.16.280
- Compliance window
- 60 days after notice of violation
Summary
Sunnyvale requires large food businesses to divert edible food from the trash instead of throwing it away. Municipal Code Section 8.16.210 phases in mandatory food recovery contracts for tier-one generators such as supermarkets, large grocers and food distributors starting January 1, 2022, and tier-two generators such as bigger restaurants, hotels and hospitals starting January 1, 2024, implementing SB 1383 locally.
(a) Tier one commercial edible food generators must comply with the requirements of this section commencing January 1, 2022, and tier two commercial edible food generators must comply commencing January 1, 2024, pursuant to 14 CCR Section 18991.3. ... (c) Commercial edible food generators shall comply with the following requirements: (1) Arrange to recover the maximum amount of edible food that would otherwise be disposed; (2) Contract with, or enter into a written agreement with food recovery organizations or food recovery services for: (A) the collection of edible food for food recovery; or (B) acceptance of the edible food that the commercial edible food generator self-hauls to the food recovery organization for food recovery; (3) Not intentionally spoil edible food that is capable of being recovered by a food recovery organization or a food recovery service.
Full Breakdown
Tier one covers supermarkets, grocery stores of ten thousand square feet or more, food service providers, food distributors and wholesale food vendors. Tier two covers restaurants with two hundred fifty or more seats or five thousand square feet or more, hotels with an on-site food facility and two hundred or more rooms, health facilities with an on-site food facility and one hundred or more beds, large venues, large events, qualifying state agency cafeterias and local education agency facilities. 210(c). 210(c)(4)-(5). 210(d)-(e). 190, which require every large multifamily and commercial premises to keep food scraps out of the mixed waste container. 210(g).
Violations & Fines
Noncompliance triggers the Chapter 8.16 enforcement process in Section 8.16.280: a notice of violation gives the generator sixty days to comply before the enforcement official can pursue an administrative citation and a fine set by council resolution, considering the violator's willfulness, ability to pay and any economic benefit gained. Every violation is also an infraction under Chapter 1.04, and repeat or willful violators can face a shortened compliance window or an immediate citation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Sunnyvale businesses must recover edible food instead of trashing it?
What records must a Sunnyvale food recovery contract keep?
What happens if a Sunnyvale business misses its food recovery reporting deadline?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Sunnyvale
California rules heatmap·Compare Sunnyvale to another location·View the California trash & recycling overview
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