San Ramon, CA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

Under Section B6-7 of the Municipal Code's Division B6 (Health, Sanitation and Environmental Quality), only a person the City has designated as an Authorized Collector may collect, transport, or convey Recyclable Materials, Organic Materials, Solid Waste, or Construction and Demolition Debris within San Ramon. Anyone who collects these materials without that designation is guilty of an infraction and can be issued an administrative citation under Title A of the code, on top of any other remedy. The section preserves a property owner's or occupant's right to remove Discarded Materials from their own property and recycle, compost, or dispose of them in a clean, sanitary, and legally compliant manner, but that self-haul right does not cancel the separate requirement in Section B6-2(D) that every occupied property still subscribe to an adequate level of collection service for all three streams unless it holds a waiver.

The ordinance also lists specific categories exempt from the Authorized Collector requirement: source-separated materials that are sold or donated, edible food distributed to people or animals, materials a contractor removes as an incidental part of an unrelated service (a landscaper's trimmings or a roofer's tear-off debris, for example), animal or grease waste and used cooking oil, excluded waste, and materials generated by state and county facilities such as the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. The rule works alongside Section B6-6, which separately bans dumping or burying Solid Waste, Organic Materials, Recyclable Materials, or C&D Debris anywhere in the city outside an authorized disposal method.