Marin County, CA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)
Key Facts
- Required streams
- Garbage, recyclables, organics
- Recycling container color
- Blue or tan
- Garbage container color
- Gray or black
- Organics container color
- Green
- Compliance window after warning
- 60 days
- Escalating fines
- $100 / $200 / $500
Summary
Marin County Code § 7.00.060 requires every residential generator in unincorporated Marin to sort waste into three streams: garbage, recyclable materials and organic materials, each in its own approved container. Mixing recyclables into the trash cart creates a "prohibited container contaminant" violation the county can cite and fine.
Shall place source separated organic materials, including food waste, in the organic materials collection container; place source separated recyclable materials in the recyclable material collection container; and place garbage in the approved solid waste collection container. Generators shall not place prohibited container contaminants into the garbage collection container, organic materials collection container or recyclable material collection container.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Municipal Code: Supplement 2026 Update 1).
Full Breakdown
060(C) requires residential generators to place source-separated organic materials, including food waste, in the organic materials container, place source-separated recyclables in the recycling container, and place garbage only in the approved solid waste container, without mixing prohibited contaminants into any of the three. 100. 070(H): containers must be gray or black for garbage, blue or tan for recyclables, and green for organics, with older noncompliant containers grandfathered until January 1, 2036. 02 makes it unlawful for anyone other than an authorized collector, the Marin Recycling and Resource Recovery Agency, or a nonprofit fundraiser to steal, take or appropriate recyclable materials already placed at a curbside collection station. 110 unless a specific exception applies.
Violations & Fines
Placing prohibited contaminants in the wrong container, or failing to source-separate recyclables and organics as required by § 7.00.060 or § 7.00.070, is enforced under § 7.00.160: a written warning for the first violation, a notice of violation with a sixty-day compliance deadline for the next, and administrative fines of $100, $200 and $500 for a third or later violation, with a right to appeal any citation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to separate recyclables from trash in unincorporated Marin?
Can I leave my recycling bin at the curb every day?
Is it illegal for someone else to take recyclables out of my bin?
What color should my commercial recycling container be?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Marin County
California rules heatmap·Compare Marin County to another location·View the California trash & recycling overview
See something wrong?
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.