Palm Desert, CA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

Chapter 8.17 of the Palm Desert Municipal Code protects the recycling stream in the City of Palm Desert, California. Under § 8.17.020, recyclable materials placed in a city-regulated recyclable materials container become the property of the city when the container is set out for collection by the franchise waste hauler, and the hauler has the exclusive duty, right and privilege to collect, transport and process them. Recyclables that are not set out remain the owner's property. Section 8.17.030 then bars everyone except the city or its hauler from removing recyclables from those containers, and makes it unlawful to tamper with a container or its contents or to carry off a container or the recyclables placed alongside it.

What counts as recyclable is spelled out in § 8.16.010: newspaper, mixed paper, chipboard, corrugated cardboard, glass containers of any color, aluminum, steel, tin or bi-metal cans, plastic containers numbered one to seven except expanded polystyrene, and bottles. Mixed paper excludes tissues, paper towels, plastic-coated paper, food-contaminated paper, wax paper and foil-lined paper and cartons. Recyclables go in the blue container (§ 8.19.040), and anything placed in a blue container that is not an identified recyclable counts as contamination. Generators must subscribe to the franchise hauler's three-container service with weekly collection of recyclable materials, and the hauler can assess a contamination processing fee or penalty if the city approves it (§ 8.19.060).

Companies that collect recyclables need a business license under Chapter 5.04, must carry insurance, must print the business name, address, telephone number and truck number on each side of the vehicle in letters not less than three inches high, and must deliver quarterly diversion reports within forty-five days after the end of each calendar quarter (§ 8.17.040).