Solano County, CA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

Section 23-21(a) of the Solano County Code sets the physical standard for how solid waste and recyclable material must be stored between collections. Containers must be nonabsorbent, leakproof, vector-resistant, durable, easily cleanable and designed for safe handling, and every container needs a lid. The section caps the weight of a filled container at 250 pounds where a mechanical loading system empties it, protecting collection crews from unsafe lifting; outside mechanical loading, weight is limited to what an average physically fit person can reasonably lift. Dumpster bins get a narrow exception from this same subsection: bins do not need lids, and their weight limit is instead set by the contractor rather than the 250-pound mechanical figure.

This container standard sits in Chapter 23, Article II, the storage article that implements the county's broader authority under the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 (Pub. ' The Department of Resource Management, Environmental Health Services Division, is the agency named throughout Chapter 23 to inspect containers and investigate complaints, and it can require more frequent removal of recyclable material or green waste under the companion accumulation-limit rule in Section 23-20 if a stored container is creating a nuisance.