Yucaipa, CA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Rules (2026)

Section 8.28.055 puts a recycling duty on businesses in the City of Yucaipa. The definition in subsection A is wide: any commercial or public entity, for-profit or nonprofit, including strip malls, schools, school districts, special districts and government facilities, plus any multifamily residential dwelling or mobilehome park of five or more units. Subsection B applies to a business generating four or more cubic yards of solid waste per week and to any multifamily dwelling of five or more units; the compliance date printed in the text, July 1, 2012, has long passed. Those generators must reuse, recycle, compost or otherwise divert their commercial solid waste by one of two routes: source separate recyclables and subscribe with the city's franchise hauler for separate pickup, or source separate and self-haul to a certified materials recovery facility or other mixed waste processing facility.

Self-haulers carry the proof burden. A business that does not subscribe with the franchise hauler must show the city manager or designee satisfactory proof of acceptable diversion levels on a quarterly basis, in March, June, September and December. Multifamily owners can require tenants to source separate, and tenants must comply. Subsection C has the city run education, outreach and monitoring, and subsection D preserves the right to donate, sell or otherwise dispose of recyclables under Public Resources Code Section 41952.

Organics sit in a companion section, § 8.28.057, with a two cubic yards per week trigger and quarterly proof in January, April, July and October; an owner who pays for tenants' solid waste service must also pay for organics service, and tenants still reimburse their pro-rata share. Recyclables themselves carry ownership and anti-scavenging rules: under § 8.28.390 material set out at a designated collection location becomes the authorized recycling contractor's property, and § 8.28.400 bars anyone but the city or its contractor from removing it during the twenty-four hour period starting at six p.m. on the day before collection.