Redwood City, CA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- City Code § 47.050
- Applies to
- Businesses and 5+ unit multi-family
- Tenant notice deadline
- Within 14 days of occupancy
- Old container grace period
- Until January 1, 2036
- First violation fine
- $100 per violation
- Exit route
- Self-haul under Section 47.100
Summary
Commercial businesses and multi-family properties in Redwood City must subscribe to the City's three-container collection service, supply labeled recycling and organics containers for tenants and customers, and train staff on sorting, under Municipal Code Section 47.050, unless they qualify as a permitted self-hauler.
Subscribe to City's three-container collection services and comply with requirements of those services as described below in Section 47.050.B., except commercial businesses that meet the self-hauler requirements in Section 47.100 of this Chapter. City shall have the right to review the number and size of a generator's containers and frequency of collection to evaluate adequacy of capacity provided for each type of collection service... Generator shall place source separated green container organic waste, including food waste, in the green container; source separated blue container organic waste and source separated recyclable materials in the blue container; and black container waste in the black container. Generator shall not place materials designated for the black container into the green container or blue container.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Zoning Code: Supplement 29 | City Code: Supplement 61 Update 1).
Full Breakdown
050 requires every commercial business, a term that includes multi-family residential dwellings of five or more units, to subscribe to the City's three-container collection service and to adjust its service level whenever the City determines the containers lack adequate capacity or collection frequency. Generators must place source-separated green container organic waste and food waste in the green container, source-separated recyclables in the blue container, and everything else in the black container. Except for multi-family dwellings, a business must place labeled or color-conforming blue and green containers in every indoor and outdoor area where it already provides disposal containers for customers, though it need not add containers in restrooms, and functional containers bought before January 1, 2022 do not have to be replaced before January 1, 2036.
A business must give new tenants written sorting information within fourteen days of occupancy, must annually inspect its containers for contamination, and must annually inform employees, contractors, tenants, and customers about the sorting rules. 140 and must cooperate with the City's remote-monitoring program for container contents if the City implements one. 060.
Violations & Fines
Failure to subscribe, provide required containers, or allow inspection access is a violation subject to a notice of violation and an administrative citation under Section 47.150: a $100 fine for a first offense, $200 for a second, and $500 for a third or later offense, each assessed per violation. The City follows the administrative citation and appeal procedures of Municipal Code Chapter 1, Article II, and a business may request a hearing before a hearing officer to contest a citation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Redwood City businesses have to provide separate recycling bins for customers?
Can a Redwood City business avoid the three-container subscription?
What must a business tell new tenants about recycling?
What is the penalty for a commercial recycling violation in Redwood City?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Redwood City
California rules heatmap·Compare Redwood City to another location·View the California trash & recycling overview
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