South Gate, CA Trash & Recycling: Yard Waste Collection (2026)

California SB 1383 (Public Resources Code §42652 et seq.) requires every jurisdiction to provide organic waste collection service to all residents and businesses, and prohibits landfilling of organic waste. South Gate complies through its franchise with Universal Waste Systems (UWS), which provides every residential customer a GREEN cart for combined yard waste (grass clippings, leaves, prunings, small branches) and kitchen food scraps (fruit/vegetable trimmings, meat, dairy, bread, coffee grounds, food-soiled paper). The green cart is collected weekly on the same day as the black trash and blue recycling carts. Accepted yard waste: grass, leaves, weeds, flowers, small tree branches (typically under 4 ft long and 4 in. diameter) tied or placed loosely in the cart. NOT accepted in the green cart: plastic bags, dirt/rock/sod, treated/painted lumber, palm fronds in some routes (oversized), large stumps. Large branches and quantities of yard debris exceeding the cart should be scheduled as a bulky-item pickup or self-hauled to the LACSD South Gate Transfer Station. SB 1383 enforcement is phased: cities issue warnings starting 2022–2023, then escalate to civil penalties (PRC §42652.5). South Gate's program landing page is sortwastesg.org. Note that California Public Resources Code §4291 (defensible-space brush-clearance) does not apply in dense urban South Gate, which is not a Wildland-Urban Interface zone.