San Bernardino County, CA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

The requirement sits in Division 6, Chapter 6 of the County Code, adopted by Ordinance 4385 in 2020 and amended by Ordinance 4434 in 2022 to implement the state's AB 341 and AB 1826 commercial recycling mandates locally. 0602(a), a covered business includes any for-profit or nonprofit commercial or public entity, or a multifamily residential dwelling with five or more units, located in the unincorporated county. 0603(b) requires it to take at least one of four actions: subscribe to its franchised grantee for recyclables pickup, self-haul source-separated recyclables to a permitted recovery facility, subscribe to a mixed-waste processing service that diverts recyclables, or sell or donate the material.

Businesses that let customers on the premises must place a labeled recycling bin next to every trash bin, visible and easily accessible, though full-service restaurants can satisfy this by giving employees a labeled bin and running an internal collection program instead. Businesses that do not subscribe with the grantee must prove their diversion rate to the Public Works-Solid Waste Management Division on request. All businesses must return a commercial recycling survey within 30 days of receiving it, and answer any follow-up request within 15 days.

The Director may grant a case-by-case exemption for lack of bin space, an existing high-diversion program, generating less than half a cubic yard of recyclables weekly, or no viable recycling market, but can revoke that exemption on 30 days' written notice. Property owners of five-plus-unit complexes may require tenants to source-separate recyclables as part of the program.