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

SB 1383 is California's short-lived climate pollutant law requiring large statewide reductions in landfilled organic waste and increased edible-food recovery, generally including a mandatory organic-waste (green cart) collection program. The regulations contain a rural-jurisdiction exemption, and Trinity County qualifies and has obtained it. A 'rural county' under Public Resources Code section 42649.8 is a county with a total population of less than 70,000 people; Trinity County, at roughly 16,000 residents, is well under that threshold. CalRecycle's Department-Issued Waivers records list Trinity County under the Rural Exemption (Counties) category, with an approval date of January 3, 2022. As a result, the County is not subject to SB 1383's organic-waste collection-services requirement, so there is no countywide mandate for residents to subscribe to a green organics cart — consistent with the County's solid-waste pages, which describe transfer sites, recycling, and clean-brush/yard-waste handling but no curbside organics program. What still applies, even with the rural exemption, is SB 1383's edible food recovery program (commercial edible-food generators must arrange to recover surplus edible food) plus universal duties such as recycled-content procurement. Trinity is high-elevation and low-population, the exact profile the rural, elevation, and low-population waivers were designed for, and the County also runs clean-brush/green-waste collection at its transfer sites as a practical diversion path. Residents may still compost voluntarily. Because exemptions are time-limited and subject to renewal and legislative change, confirm current status with the County Solid Waste Department and CalRecycle.