Issaquah, WA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

IMC 8.04.050 is a reservation of power rather than a fixed sorting list. The City reserves the right to and can require the separation of paper or swill, or other component parts of garbage, can require the deposit of those parts in separate cans or receptacles, and can prescribe the method of disposal. The section names no specific materials beyond paper and swill, and it prints no date or threshold at which separation begins, so any duty to sort depends on what the City actually requires under it.

The storage side of recycling is in IMC 8.04.040. After the weekly garbage removal rule, the section states that it does not apply to items intended for recycling, and that all items held for recycling shall be stored in enclosed areas or containers. Recycling that sits outside in the open, such as loose cardboard stacked beside a garage, falls on the wrong side of that sentence.

Garbage itself is defined in IMC 8.04.010(C) as refuse, rubbish, ashes, swill and other putrescible and nonputrescible wastes, excluding sewage and hazardous, toxic and petroleum wastes. Disposal under IMC 8.04.070 must use methods approved by the County Department of Health.

The City also runs its own composting policy under chapter 8.05. IMC 8.05.010 has the City plan for the use of compost where practicable and feasible in City-maintained landscaping, construction project soil amendments and postconstruction soil amendments, give priority in purchasing to compost products that are produced locally, certified by a nationally recognized organization, derived from municipal solid waste compost programs and compliant with Washington State Department of Transportation or Department of Ecology standards, develop strategies to inform Issaquah residents about the value of compost, and report compost procurement to the Department of Ecology pursuant to RCW 43.19A.150.

Businesses that serve food face a firm recycling mandate in IMC 8.07.040, covered on the recycling requirements page.