Brentwood, CA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

230 of the solid waste chapter. Once recyclable materials are placed at a curbside blue container or other designated collection location, ownership transfers to the city or to whichever city-authorized service provider is under contract to collect it, and it is unlawful for anyone else, including scrap dealers and unauthorized scavengers, to remove material from that container. The section preserves a generator's separate right to sell, donate, or otherwise divert recyclables on their own, but only up to the point the material is deposited into a city-provided container and set out for pickup; after that, subsection A controls.

Sorting matters too. 330 requires source-separated recyclables to go in the blue container, source-separated organic waste in the green container, and everything else in the black container, and bars mixing materials between them. The city may charge a contamination fee, set in the cost allocation plan, when a container is collected with the wrong materials inside, and frequent contamination triggering escalated charges is defined as three violations within one year; additional charges apply if contamination is discovered after the load reaches the transfer station. 200(E), including labeled containers in all customer-facing areas, annual employee education on sorting rules, and cooperation with city inspections to confirm compliance with the state's SB 1383 organics regulations.