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

SB 1383, California's Short-Lived Climate Pollutant law, requires every jurisdiction to provide organic-waste collection to residents and businesses and to meet statewide goals of cutting organic-waste disposal 75% and recovering 20% of edible food. Counties with a population under 70,000 can qualify for a rural exemption; Imperial County's roughly 180,000 residents are well above that line, so it does not get a blanket county-wide rural waiver. CalRecycle does allow narrower low-population census-tract waivers for unincorporated tracts with very low density (generally under 50 people per square mile) and high-elevation waivers, which is the relevant nuance for Imperial's sparsely populated desert tracts - but the county is implementing collection rather than relying on those waivers. After operating under deadline extensions, Imperial County adopted its Solid Waste Franchise Zone program to comply. Effective July 1, 2026, each home in a franchised unincorporated zone receives a green 96-gallon organics cart for food scraps and yard waste, collected by CR&R Environmental Services or Republic Services, alongside the black trash and blue recycling carts. The residential service costs about $26.51 per month, billed annually on the property tax roll, and no residential waivers are permitted. Commercial customers may apply for waivers meeting specific state criteria; Tier One and Tier Two commercial edible-food generators must participate in edible-food-recovery programs under SB 1383.