Rancho Cucamonga, CA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- RCMC § 8.17.190
- Covered businesses
- 4+ cubic yards solid waste per week
- Covered housing
- Multi-family, 5+ units
- Compliance options
- Subscribe, self-haul, or donate/sell recyclables
- Exemption
- Apply to ESD director, show no viable option
- Default penalty
- Misdemeanor, up to $1,000 fine (§1.12.010)
Summary
Rancho Cucamonga requires certain businesses to recycle. Municipal Code Section 8.17.190 forces any commercial business generating four cubic yards or more of solid waste a week, and any multi-family dwelling of five units or more, to source separate recyclables and arrange collection, self-haul, or donation, unless the ESD director grants an exemption.
The following businesses shall recycle and divert from the landfill recyclable materials generated by the business in accordance with this section: A commercial business that generates four cubic yards or more of solid waste per week; A multi-family dwelling of five units or more. ... Businesses subject to this section shall arrange for recycling services, consistent with state and local laws, rules, regulations and requirements, to the extent that these services are offered and reasonably available from a local service provider.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: rev 4999536; v21 updated 2026-07-15).
Full Breakdown
190(A) applies mandatory recycling to two groups: a commercial business that generates four cubic yards or more of solid waste per week, and a multi-family dwelling of five units or more. Under subsection (B), a covered business must take at least one of three actions: subscribe to a basic recycling service with the city's authorized collector for pickup or self-hauling; self-haul source-separated recyclables to a certified recycling or material recovery facility; or arrange pickup of source-separated recyclables for donation or sale to a recycler or nonprofit.
Subsection (C) lets property owners or managers of multi-family dwellings require tenants to source separate their recyclables, and it obligates tenants of covered buildings to comply with that source-separation requirement once it is imposed. A business that meets the four-cubic-yard threshold is not locked in permanently: subsection (D) lets it apply to the ESD director for an exemption on a prescribed form, and the director approves or denies it based on whether the business shows it generates no recyclable materials, lacks adequate storage space for recyclables, or has no viable market or recycling facility available to it.
200 layers an equivalent mandate onto organic waste, phased in at the same four-cubic-yard threshold starting January 1, 2017 for organic waste generators and January 1, 2019 for all qualifying commercial generators, with its own parallel exemption process through the ESD director.
Violations & Fines
Chapter 8.17 does not write a separate fine schedule into Section 8.17.190 itself, so a business that ignores the mandatory recycling requirement, or the exemption process, without complying falls under the citywide default misdemeanor penalty in Section 1.12.010(D): up to a $1,000.00 fine, up to six months in jail, or both, with each day of noncompliance a separate offense.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Rancho Cucamonga businesses have to recycle under the ordinance?
Can a multi-family property make tenants sort their recycling?
Can a business get out of the mandatory recycling requirement?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Rancho Cucamonga
California rules heatmap·Compare Rancho Cucamonga to another location·View the California trash & recycling overview
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Recycling Rules in Nearby Cities
How other cities in San Bernardino County handle recycling rules.