Elk Grove, CA Trash & Recycling: Pickup Rules & Schedules (2026)

070(A) prohibits any person from opening, looking into, searching through, or removing waste from another entity's solid waste container or excluded waste storage area without the written permission of whoever pays for that waste service. Only a few categories of people are exempt from this ban: the authorized residential or commercial hauler hired to collect that container, a licensed excluded waste hauler, a law enforcement officer, a City employee performing official duties, or a person the City Manager or a designee has specifically authorized, such as someone conducting a solid waste audit.

070(B) separately protects recyclable or salvageable materials placed in a labeled recycling bag or bin from being taken by anyone other than the authorized hauler. 040, bans dumping, throwing, leaving, burying, or otherwise disposing of waste on public property or on someone else's private property, including into a cart, container, or receptacle that belongs to another resident, without the property owner's permission and outside compliance with applicable law. Together these sections protect both the hauler's exclusive right to collect a household's set-out material and a neighbor's right not to have someone else's trash dumped on their property or into their cart.

Both prohibitions apply citywide and are not limited to curbside collection day; a violation can occur any time someone tampers with a container that is not theirs.