Merced, CA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

04 creates Merced's mandatory recycling program. Sec. 420 establishes the handling requirements for recyclable material at both residences and businesses and lets the director of public works write administrative rules for running the program, subject to city manager approval, while the city council alone controls rates and charges. Recyclable material is defined in Sec. 410 as anything the city designates for its residential recycling program, and currently includes paper, cardboard, plastics, aluminum, and steel cans, a list the director can update as markets change. Sec.

425 lets a property owner skip city recycling service only if the property is undeveloped or produces no recyclables, the recyclables are handled through another subscriber's approved container, or the owner self-hauls to an approved buy-back or processing site. Self-haulers must apply to the director of public works and file quarterly receipts documenting their hauling; missing a reporting deadline by more than thirty days revokes the exemption for at least a year and puts the property back on standard recycling rates. City-issued recycling containers stay the property of the city and must be kept in good repair, with lost or damaged carts charged back to the customer under Sec.

430. Customers must place containers curbside on the assigned day where trucks can reach them (Sec. 450), and it is unlawful for anyone other than the city, or a self-hauler who charges no transport fee and pays the material's owner, to collect and transport recyclables from a Merced residence or business, or even to solicit that permission, under Sec. C.