Cupertino, CA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)
Key Facts
- Business threshold
- 4+ cubic yards of solid waste per week
- Multi-family duty
- Recycling service per individual household
- Exception authority
- Director of Public Works, storage-space basis
- Compliance alternative
- Mixed-waste processing at recovery facility
- Minimum recycling service
- 32-gallon container, collected weekly
- Max penalty
- $1,000 fine and/or 6 months jail
Summary
Cupertino requires multi-family properties and businesses generating four or more cubic yards of solid waste weekly to subscribe to non-organic recycling service. Municipal Code Section 6.24.035 sets the subscription duty, lets the Director of Public Works excuse a multi-family site that lacks room for the containers, and treats mixed-waste processing at a recovery facility as compliance.
The owner or tenant designees of multi-family dwelling premises are required to subscribe to and maintain mandatory non-organic residential recycling services for each individual household in the dwelling. An exception may be granted at the discretion of the Director if it is determined there is not sufficient storage space for the containers at the multi-family dwelling premises. All businesses are required to subscribe to and maintain mandatory non-organic recycling services if such businesses generate greater than or equal to four (4) cubic yards of solid waste per week.
Full Breakdown
035 of the Cupertino Municipal Code makes non-organic recycling mandatory rather than optional. Owners or tenant designees of multi-family dwellings must subscribe to and maintain recycling service for each individual household in the building, not just a single shared bin for the property. The Director of Public Works may grant an exception if there is not sufficient storage space for the required containers at the site. On the commercial side, any business generating four or more cubic yards of solid waste per week must subscribe to a non-organic recycling program, and it is deemed to be complying automatically if its solid waste collector instead routes its mixed containers to a material recovery facility that pulls recyclables out during processing.
The section also bars the solid waste collector from serving a covered business without offering a recycling program that supplies at least a 32-gallon container collected no less than once a week, subject only to the mixed-processing option or a Director-granted exception. 120. 12.
Violations & Fines
Section 6.24.240 lets the City pursue violations of Chapter 6.24, including the Section 6.24.035 recycling mandate, through administrative citations and fines under Chapter 1.10 or by prosecuting the violation as a misdemeanor under Chapter 1.12. Absent a different penalty, Section 1.12.010 sets infractions at $100 for a first violation, $200 for a second within a year, and $500 for each later violation, while a misdemeanor carries a fine up to $1,000, up to six months in jail, or both, with each day of continued violation a separate offense under Section 1.12.020.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Cupertino apartment buildings have to provide recycling?
What size Cupertino business must subscribe to recycling?
What happens if a Cupertino property skips required recycling service?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Cupertino
California rules heatmap·Compare Cupertino to another location·View the California trash & recycling overview
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Recycling Requirements in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Santa Clara County handle recycling requirements.