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

06, adopted in 1993, requires new development projects to set aside space for collecting and loading recyclable materials. Sec. 030 triggers the requirement for any project needing a building permit filed on or after September 1, 1994, for a commercial, industrial, or institutional building, a marina, or a residential building with five or more living units, as well as any public facility improvement involving solid waste collection, and for alterations that add 30 percent or more floor area or cost more than the parcel's value.

Sec. 040 then sets the design standards for the recycling area itself: it must be adequate in capacity, number, and distribution to serve the development, sized to fit containers matching the hauler's current collection methods, compatible with surrounding land uses, and secured against theft while still letting authorized users get to the bins. The area must also be protected from weather that could make collected materials unmarketable, and driveways or aisles serving it must give collection vehicles and personnel unobstructed access with at least the hauler's minimum required clearance.

A sign identifying the recycling and solid-waste areas and the materials each accepts must be posted at every point of access. Sec. 050 adds that a recycling area in a multifamily development should sit no more than 250 feet from any living unit it serves, and that recycling areas cannot go in spaces the code requires to stay clear for fire or public-safety access. Sec. 060 lets a project satisfy the whole chapter by providing space for a commingled recyclables-and-solid-waste system if that's how the local hauler collects in that area.