California SB 1383 is a state law that requires every household, business, and local government in California to keep organic waste out of landfills, recover edible surplus food, and buy back finished compost and related products. Signed into law as part of California’s Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy, it sets a statewide goal of cutting organic waste disposal 75% below 2014 levels by 2025 and recovering at least 20% of the edible food that would otherwise be thrown away.1CalRecycle. California’s Organic Waste Reduction Most collection programs took effect on January 1, 2022.
What SB 1383 Is Trying to Fix
The law has two targets, both benchmarked against 2014 disposal levels: a 50% reduction in organic waste sent to landfills by 2020 and a 75% reduction by 2025.2California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 39730.6 Organic material decomposing in landfills produces methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term, and cutting methane is the point. The framework connects back to the greenhouse gas reduction structure California built under the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.3California Air Resources Board. AB 32 Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006
Alongside the diversion goal sits a food recovery goal. At least 20% of edible food currently being discarded must be recovered for human consumption by 2025. The law treats landfill methane as a climate problem and wasted food as a hunger problem, and it goes after both at the same time.
What Households Have to Do
The most visible change is at the curb. Jurisdictions must give residents and businesses a three-container system. The green bin takes organic waste: food scraps, yard trimmings, and food-soiled paper. The blue bin takes recyclables, including paper products, printing paper, wood, and textiles. The gray bin takes everything else.4Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 14 18984.1 – Three-Container Organic Waste Collection Some jurisdictions add a separate brown bin for food waste specifically, but three containers is the baseline.
Single-family homes and small multifamily buildings with fewer than five units must participate in local curbside organics collection and sort their waste into the correct bins. Larger multifamily buildings face the same sorting rules through centralized bins. In some places, residents can self-haul organic waste to an approved facility instead of using curbside pickup.5CalRecycle. Statewide Mandatory Organic Waste Collection
For most people, the practical change comes down to keeping food scraps out of the gray trash bin.
What Businesses Have to Do
The food recovery mandate does not apply equally to every business. SB 1383 sorts commercial food generators into two tiers, each with its own compliance date.
Tier 1 generators have been required to comply since January 1, 2022. This tier covers supermarkets that are full-line, self-service stores with at least $2 million in gross annual sales; grocery stores of 10,000 square feet or more; food service providers that supply food under contract to institutional or commercial sites; and food distributors and wholesale vendors that receive, store, and ship food to retailers or other distributors.
Tier 2 generators have been required to comply since January 1, 2024. This tier covers restaurants with 250 or more seats or 5,000 or more square feet; hotels with 200 or more rooms and an on-site food facility; health facilities with 100 or more beds and an on-site food facility; large venues and events averaging more than 2,000 people per day of operation; local education agencies with on-site food facilities; and state agency cafeterias with 250 or more seats.6CalRecycle. How to Identify SB 1383 Commercial Edible Food Generators
Businesses in either tier must set up written agreements with local food recovery organizations to donate safe, edible surplus food. Recovery organizations that take part in the program must keep records of the food they receive and distribute.7CalRecycle. Food Recovery in California
What Cities and Counties Have to Do
Diverting organic waste only works if someone buys the compost, mulch, and renewable energy that comes out the other end. SB 1383 handles this by making every city and county buy back a share of those products.
Each jurisdiction’s annual procurement target equals its population multiplied by 0.08 tons per resident per year. The target can be met with any combination of compost, mulch, renewable electricity from anaerobic digestion, heating gas, transportation fuel from renewable gas, or electricity from biomass conversion.8CalRecycle. Procurement Targets and Recovered Organic Waste Products For scale, 8,000 tons of organic waste translates to roughly 4,460 tons of compost, or about 1.9 million kilowatt-hours of electricity from renewable gas.
The requirement phased in: 30% of the target by January 1, 2023, 65% by January 1, 2024, and the full 100% by January 1, 2025.9California Legislative Information. California Public Resources Code 42652.5 Beginning in 2027, jurisdictions can opt into a five-year procurement cycle instead of annual targets. The current per-capita number stays in place through the end of 2026, after which CalRecycle will recalculate using updated population figures.
Who Can Get a Waiver
SB 1383 includes several waivers for communities where full compliance is not workable:
- A low-population waiver for cities or special districts that disposed of fewer than 5,000 tons of solid waste in 2014 and have fewer than 7,500 residents. Unincorporated county areas with population density below 75 people per square mile can also qualify.
- An elevation waiver for jurisdictions entirely at or above 4,500 feet, since composting operations run into practical limits in cold, high-altitude conditions. This waiver applies to separating food waste and food-soiled paper.
- A rural exemption for jurisdictions that meet California’s statutory definition of “rural,” which can also delay procurement requirements until January 1, 2027.
Non-local entities such as federal facilities, state parks, prisons, and public universities can also apply for waivers if they generate only minimal organic material or lack space for additional containers. Local education agencies can seek similar relief under the same conditions.
Fines for Non-Compliance
The penalty structure runs on two tracks. Jurisdictions fine individual generators, and CalRecycle fines jurisdictions.
Fines on Businesses and Residents
When a jurisdiction finds a generator out of compliance, it can issue escalating fines: $50 to $100 for a first violation, $100 to $200 for a second violation of the same requirement within one year, and $250 to $500 for a third or subsequent violation.11CalRecycle. Enforcement Questions and Answers The amounts look modest, but they apply per violation, and a business that keeps failing to separate organic waste or refuses to set up food recovery can rack up cumulative penalties.
Fines on Jurisdictions
Local governments face steeper daily administrative penalties from CalRecycle: $500 to $4,000 per day for a minor violation, $4,000 to $7,500 per day for a moderate violation, and $7,500 to $10,000 per day for a major violation. Total penalties for multiple violations cannot exceed $10,000 per day.
Procurement violations use a separate math. CalRecycle divides the jurisdiction’s annual procurement target by 365 to get a daily equivalent, then counts the days the jurisdiction fell short. The per-day amount depends on the severity, the jurisdiction’s ability to pay, and whether the shortfall came from circumstances outside its control. When a jurisdiction fails to enforce the law against its own generators, CalRecycle can step in and take enforcement action against those generators directly.12CalRecycle. CalRecycle Oversight and Enforcement
Where the 2025 Targets Stand
Food recovery has moved. In 2023, local programs recovered 217,042 tons of unsold food, reaching 94% of the 2025 target of 231,476 tons.13CalRecycle. California’s Climate Progress on SB 1383 Closing the remaining gap depends on Tier 2 generators continuing to build out donation agreements now that their compliance date has passed.
The 75% organic waste reduction target is harder to read. Diversion depends not just on collection but on processing capacity, and California has faced a shortage of composting and anaerobic digestion facilities in some regions. Some jurisdictions are collecting organic waste separately but do not have enough local processing to handle it all. CalRecycle continues to evaluate compliance and can open enforcement proceedings where programs fall short.