Santa Cruz County, CA Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)
Key Facts
- Yard trimmings status
- Defined subset of organic materials (§7.20.020)
- Core duty
- Subscribe to organics collection service
- Wrong-bin penalty
- Contamination processing fee
- Multi-family duty
- Post organics sorting signage
- Enforcing agency
- County Dept. of Public Works Director
Summary
Unincorporated Santa Cruz County requires every generator, homeowners, tenants, and businesses alike, to subscribe to organics collection and keep yard trimmings out of the trash cart. County Code § 7.20.270 makes diverting yard trimmings and organic material a legal duty, and violators risk contamination fees or a refused pickup from the county's franchised hauler.
All generators, including all property owners, owners of commercial businesses, and residents living in single-family structures, multi-family structures and mixed-use buildings, including those entities authorized to self-haul their waste pursuant to SCCC § 7.20.250, must participate in a program to divert covered materials, including the requirements to: (1) Subscribe to covered materials collection service offered by a County-authorized service provider, or self-haul covered materials in accordance with SCCC § 7.20.250 and applicable law. (2) Separate covered materials for collection or transport, and ensure that no covered materials are deposited in a solid waste container or receptacle; deposited at any County disposal facility; or are otherwise disposed of. Generators shall not place prohibited container contaminants in discarded materials containers.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: rev 5004302; v11 updated 2026-05-19; through 05-19-2026).
Full Breakdown
020 defines "yard trimmings" as discarded plant or other non-animal organic material approved for the County's organic materials collection program, and it folds yard trimmings into the broader "organic materials" category that also covers food scraps. 250, and physically separate yard trimmings and other organic material so none of it lands in the solid-waste cart or at a landfill-bound disposal facility. 270(B): they must supply organics containers with visible signage that stay conveniently accessible to tenants and visitors, and must educate tenants and employees on proper sorting at least once a year and again within 14 calendar days of move-in or hire. 250(G).
Violations & Fines
Placing yard trimmings or other organic material in the solid-waste container makes it a "prohibited container contaminant" under § 7.20.020(WW). County-authorized haulers may refuse the container and assess a contamination processing fee under § 7.20.270(A)(2), and a code enforcement officer can order compliance. Chronic noncompliance can be folded into the same unlawful-accumulation and abatement process the county applies to other discarded-materials violations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to put yard trimmings in a separate cart in unincorporated Santa Cruz County?
What exactly counts as yard trimmings under the county code?
What happens if I skip organics service or keep mixing trash?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Santa Cruz County
California rules heatmap·Compare Santa Cruz County to another location·View the California trash & recycling overview
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