Mason County, WA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Mason County Code Chapter 13.30, Minimum Levels of Service for Residential Recycling Collection, binds the certificated solid waste haulers operating under Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) certificates in the unincorporated urban and rural areas of Mason County, including North Mason, Shelton UGA, and outlying Hood Canal communities. Section 13.30.030 requires haulers to offer every-other-week single-stream curbside collection to every single-family residence subscribed to automated garbage service, and lets residents in automated areas sign up for recycling even without garbage service, at a WUTC-set rate.

Haulers must furnish a durable, approximately 96-gallon wheeled cart to each signed-up account, or substitute a 64-gallon cart on request with no change in the monthly fee, and must replace containers worn out by normal use or hauler negligence at no charge, though customer-caused damage is billed to the customer. The chapter's stated intent, drawn from state solid-waste policy, is to make source separation "a fundamental strategy" and recycling "at least as affordable and convenient... as mixed waste disposal." Haulers must also maintain a telephone hotline, deliver containers within ten days of a signup request, begin service within thirty-five days, and file annual reports with the county by March 1 covering subscriber counts, tonnage collected, and unresolved complaints.

Under Section 13.30.090 and RCW 81.77.185, haulers may retain up to thirty percent of recyclables revenue if their county-approved work plan shows the money increases recycling, with the remainder passed back to ratepayers as a commodity credit.