Tustin, CA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- Tustin City Code Section 4312(c)
- Ownership transfer
- Materials become hauler property once set out
- Scavenging
- Unlawful for anyone but contracted hauler to collect
- Right to divert
- Preserved only before curbside placement
- First infraction fine
- Up to $100 under Section 1121
Summary
Once recyclables and other divertable materials go into the container the City's contracted hauler provides and are set out for pickup, Tustin City Code Section 4312(c) makes them the hauler's property. Only the contracted hauler may take materials from a designated container, though residents keep the right to sell or donate recyclables before they're placed for collection.
c.Collection of divertable materials:1.Ownership of divertable materials. Upon placement of divertable materials in the designated container provided by the City's contracted hauler, and placement of the container for collection at curbside or in another designated location, said divertable materials shall become the property of the contracted hauler engaged to collect such material.2.Collection by persons other than a contracted hauler prohibited. It is unlawful for any person, except for the contracted hauler engaged to provide such service, to collect divertable materials from a designated container. ... 3.Generator's right to divert. Nothing in this Chapter limits the right of any person to sell, donate, or otherwise divert from landfilling any divertable material generated at a premises owned or controlled by such person, except that divertable materials deposited into containers provided by a contracted hauler and placed for collection shall become the property of the contracted hauler as provided in subsection 1. above.
Full Breakdown
Tustin adopted its current recycling and municipal solid waste chapter by Ordinance No. 1519 in 2021 to meet the state's AB 939, AB 341, AB 1826 and SB 1383 diversion mandates, defining "divert" in Section 4311 as any combination of recycling, sorting, composting or other processing meant to keep material out of a landfill. Section 4312(c)(1) fixes ownership: once divertable materials go into the container the City's contracted hauler supplies and that container is set out for collection at curbside or another designated spot, the materials become the property of the contracted hauler.
Section 4312(c)(2) then makes it unlawful for anyone other than that contracted hauler to collect divertable materials out of a designated container, a prohibition the code separately labels scavenging in Section 4314(c) and again bars at Section 4372 for unlawfully placed containers. Section 4312(c)(3) preserves a resident's or business's right to sell, donate or otherwise divert recyclable material generated on their own premises, but only up to the point the material is deposited in the hauler's container and placed for pickup; after that, subsection 1 controls.
The City's contracted hauler runs curbside recycling collection under a franchise the voters authorized by Initiative Ordinance No. 2006-01 in 2006, rebid at least every ten years under Section 4320.
Violations & Fines
Tustin City Code Section 4371 makes violations of the solid waste and recycling chapter punishable under the City's general penalty at Section 1121, which sets fines up to one hundred dollars for a first infraction, two hundred dollars for a second within a year and five hundred dollars for each additional violation, or prosecution as a misdemeanor carrying up to a one-thousand-dollar fine and six months in the Orange County jail. Scavenging materials from a hauler's container can also trigger container impoundment by the Director of Public Works under Section 4370.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who owns my recycling once I put it out for pickup in Tustin?
Can someone else take recyclables out of my bin before the truck comes in Tustin?
Can I donate my own recyclables instead of putting them in the City bin?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Tustin
California rules heatmap·Compare Tustin to another location·View the California trash & recycling overview
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