California’s compost law, Senate Bill 1383, requires every resident and business in the state to keep food scraps, yard trimmings, and other organic waste out of the trash and put them in a separate green bin for composting or processing. The law took effect January 1, 2022, and mandatory enforcement with fines began January 1, 2024.1California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). California’s Organic Waste Reduction The statewide goal is a 75% reduction in organic waste going to landfills, measured against 2014 levels, by 2025.
What Goes in the Green Bin
SB 1383 defines organic waste more broadly than most people expect. In a standard three-container setup, the green container accepts food waste of every kind, including meat, bones, dairy, fruits, vegetables, and grains, along with food-soiled paper such as napkins and coffee filters, and yard waste like grass clippings, leaves, and small branches.2CalRecycle. Collection Systems, Standardized Container Colors, and Labeling The regulations also classify lumber, wood, paper products, organic textiles and carpets, manure, biosolids, digestate, and sludges as organic waste, though your local jurisdiction decides which of those go in the green bin versus the blue recycling bin.3CalRecycle. Statewide Mandatory Organic Waste Collection Clean paper and cardboard typically go blue.
Keep plastics, glass, metals, foam containers, pet waste, and hazardous materials out of the green bin. Plastic bags labeled “compostable” or “biodegradable” are generally not accepted either, unless your specific local program says otherwise. Many composting facilities can’t process them even when they carry certifications.
The three-container system is the standard:
- Green container: food waste, yard waste, and other organic materials.
- Blue container: bottles, cans, plastic, and clean paper and cardboard.
- Gray container: everything that is neither organic nor recyclable.
Statewide rules set those colors and require standardized labels on new containers so residents and businesses can tell what belongs where.4Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Tit. 14 18984.7 – Container Color Requirements
Contamination Checks
Jurisdictions must monitor bins for prohibited materials, either through route reviews along collection routes or waste evaluations at processing facilities.5CalRecycle. Contamination Monitoring A first contamination finding usually brings an educational notice. Persistent problems lead to penalties.
Who Has to Comply
Everyone. The law applies to single-family homeowners, tenants in multi-family complexes, commercial businesses of every size, schools, state agencies, and special districts. There is no minimum threshold that automatically exempts a low-volume household or business. If you produce very little organic waste, you still need to participate unless you qualify for a specific waiver.
Owners and managers of multi-family complexes with five or more units carry extra duties. They must provide organic waste collection service to tenants and employees, supply enough properly labeled containers, educate tenants annually on correct sorting, and give new tenants sorting information within 14 days of move-in.3CalRecycle. Statewide Mandatory Organic Waste Collection
Alternatives if Curbside Doesn’t Work
Standard curbside pickup isn’t the only path. SB 1383 recognizes several alternatives.
Self-Hauling
Residents and businesses can transport their own organic waste to a permitted composting facility, community composting program, or other approved collection activity.3CalRecycle. Statewide Mandatory Organic Waste Collection Self-haulers have to keep records showing what facility they used, the types and quantities of material delivered, and receipts or weight tickets. CalRecycle requires those records be available for inspection.6CalRecycle. SB 1383 Recordkeeping Requirements Many jurisdictions require five years of retention, so check locally.
Community Composting
Community composting programs are explicitly listed as a qualifying destination for self-hauled organic waste. If your area operates or recognizes one, dropping your organic waste there satisfies the law.
De Minimis Waivers for Low-Volume Businesses
Small commercial generators can apply to their local jurisdiction for a de minimis waiver:7Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Tit. 14 18984.11 – Waivers Granted by a Jurisdiction
- Businesses producing two or more cubic yards of total waste per week qualify if they generate less than 20 gallons of organic waste per week.
- Businesses producing less than two cubic yards of total waste per week qualify if they generate less than 10 gallons of organic waste per week.
Waivers aren’t permanent. The jurisdiction has to re-verify eligibility periodically, and multi-family properties generally can’t get one because of the combined volume tenants produce.
Physical Space Waivers
Commercial properties and multi-family complexes that genuinely can’t fit another container can apply for a physical space waiver. The applicant typically has to document, or get a qualified professional to determine, that the site can’t physically accommodate the required containers. These also require periodic re-verification.
Extra Rules for Food Businesses
SB 1383 doesn’t just mandate composting. It also requires certain large food-generating businesses to donate edible food that would otherwise be thrown away, aiming to recover 20% of that food for people in need.
Tier 1 generators have been subject to inspection since January 1, 2022. This tier covers supermarkets with $2 million or more in gross annual sales, grocery stores of 10,000 square feet or larger, food service providers, food distributors, and wholesale food vendors.8CalRecycle. Food Recovery Questions and Answers
Tier 2 became subject to inspection on January 1, 2024. It covers restaurants with 250 or more seats or 5,000 or more square feet, hotels with on-site food service and 200 or more rooms, health facilities with on-site food service and 100 or more beds, large venues and events serving an average of more than 2,000 people per day, state agencies with large cafeterias, and local education agencies with on-site food service.
Covered generators must sign a contract or written agreement with a food recovery organization or service to pick up their excess edible food. Qualifying recipients include food banks, food pantries, soup kitchens, food runners, and for-profit food recovery services.9CalRecycle. Food Recovery Organizations and Services Generators also have to keep records of each agreement, the types of food donated, pickup frequency, and monthly weight. Intentionally spoiling edible food that could have been recovered is itself a violation.
Liability Protection and Tax Deduction for Donors
Businesses worried about liability from donating food are covered at both the federal and state level. The federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act shields any person or business from civil and criminal liability for donating apparently wholesome food in good faith to a nonprofit for distribution, with the only exception being gross negligence or intentional misconduct.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 1791 – Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act California’s Health and Safety Code specifically authorizes food facilities to donate to food banks and other nonprofits.11California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 114432
There’s a federal tax incentive too. Under Section 170(e)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, any business donating apparently wholesome food to a qualified nonprofit can claim an enhanced charitable deduction. The deduction is capped at 15% of the taxpayer’s aggregate net income from the trades or businesses making the contributions, with a five-year carryforward for anything above the cap.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 170 – Charitable, Etc., Contributions and Gifts
Fines and How Enforcement Works
The educational grace period ended January 1, 2024. Since then, local governments must actively enforce the rules and issue penalties for ongoing violations.13CalRecycle. Jurisdiction Enforcement
When a jurisdiction determines a violation has occurred, it issues a notice of violation giving the generator 60 days to fix the problem. If the generator doesn’t come into compliance within that window, penalties follow. Amounts escalate with repeat violations in the same one-year period:14Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Tit. 14 18997.2 – Penalty Amounts
- First violation: $50 to $100.
- Second violation: $100 to $200.
- Third or subsequent violation: $250 to $500.
The jurisdiction has discretion within each range. For a single household these figures are modest, but they compound quickly for a commercial operation with ongoing sorting failures.
Cities and counties themselves face steeper consequences if CalRecycle finds they aren’t enforcing the law. Penalties for local governments range from $500 to $10,000 per violation per day, with a combined cap of $10,000 per day across multiple violations.15CalRecycle. Enforcement Questions and Answers That gives every jurisdiction a strong reason to enforce the rules against the generators inside its boundaries.
What This Means for You
For most residents, compliance is simple: food scraps and yard waste in the green bin, recyclables in the blue bin, everything else in the gray bin. Your jurisdiction is required to give you educational materials explaining exactly what goes where in your local program. If you live in a multi-family complex, your property owner or manager is on the hook for making organic waste containers accessible and giving you sorting instructions.
For businesses the load is heavier. You need to subscribe to organic waste collection or arrange self-hauling with proper documentation. If you fall into a Tier 1 or Tier 2 food generator category, you also need a food recovery agreement and ongoing donation records. Enforcement is live, and a 60-day notice of violation doesn’t leave much time to build a compliant system from scratch.