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

Sec. 5-2.02, the general rule against keeping solid waste on a property more than seven days, carves out an exception for recyclables: material 'may be retained for reclamation purposes so long as said materials are not a health or safety hazard.' Sec. 5-2.16 then lists what the chapter's bans do not reach, including '(c) The placing, depositing, keeping, and disposal of recyclable materials at a recycling center which has been approved by the City Council' and, separately, City-Council-approved compost facilities and waste-to-energy recycling. Sec. 5-2.10, which otherwise makes unauthorized hauling of solid waste unlawful, states the same carve-out from the collector's side: 'residents may dispose of recyclable materials at the recycling center for reclamation.'

Read together, these three sections do the actual work of a recycling rule in Hercules: recyclables can sit on a property indefinitely as long as they aren't a nuisance or hazard, and a resident, or the City's approved facility, can move them through an approved recycling center or compost/waste-to-energy operation without running afoul of the collection franchise or the illegal-dumping rules that apply to ordinary garbage. Any recycling center, compost facility, or waste-to-energy recycler still needs City Council approval to qualify for the exception; an unapproved operation gets no exemption from the Chapter 2 prohibitions.