Pismo Beach, CA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Section 8.12.110 makes recycling a city program run by the contract agent. The council decides the terms, conditions and circumstances and sets them out by resolution. On request of any residential or commercial customer or account, the contract agent provides baskets or other suitable containers for recycling glass, aluminum, plastics and newspaper, or other materials that are later identified as part of the program. The program is a service the contract agent owes the customer; the section does not put the cost of the containers on the customer.

Two further requirements bind the contract agent. Recyclable material that is not biodegradable cannot be disposed of at a landfill in the county unless it can be deposited in a separate area where it can be removed later, when the market for the material becomes economical. And on request for rate adjustments or contract review, the contract agent provides the city with independent audit and financial information, including annual financial reports, federal and state tax reports, ownership, titles of officers and directors with participation in salaries and bonuses, and depreciation schedules for equipment and other assets. The contract agent also provides the city, annually, statistical information on the type and quantity of recyclable material, its market and revenue from sales, and other information needed to evaluate a cost effective source reduction recycling program. The section closes by stating that the curbside recycling program satisfies the recycling element of Assembly Bill 939 (SHER).

The section was adopted by Ord. 90-06 in 1990. Recycling sits inside mandatory service: § 8.12.100 A requires every premises that produces solid waste to use the city's collection service. Chapter 8.13, adopted by Ord. O-2021-004 in 2021, layers a three-container system on top of the 1990 program, and § 8.13.010 provides that when its provisions conflict with other provisions of the city code, the chapter controls. The sorting duties and penalties in that chapter are covered on the recycling rules page.