California trash pickup is run by cities, counties and private haulers, not by the state, and your pickup day comes from your city’s or hauler’s own lookup. Among the largest cities, Los Angeles and San Diego collect curbside themselves; San Jose contracts private haulers. California has a bottle deposit, a PaintCare paint drop-off program, a mattress recycling program and an electronics recycling law.
Find your city
- Glendora — Athens Services, exclusive franchise, black, blue and green 96-gallon carts weekly. Bulky items and electronics only by appointment.
- Los Angeles — LASAN, weekly black, blue and green carts for single-family homes. recycLA is a separate program for multifamily and commercial.
- San Diego — Environmental Services, gray and green bins weekly, blue every other week. Only City-provided gray bins since July 2026.
- San Francisco — Recology San Francisco, exclusive collector, three carts on the same weekly day.
- San Jose — Recycle Plus, contracted companies by neighborhood. Food scraps go in the garbage cart, not a separate one.
Missing your city? Suggest a City.
Who collects in California
- LA Sanitation & Environment — municipal department
- Recology San Francisco — exclusive franchise
- Recology — regional brand; confirm the city edition first
- CalRecycle — state agency, not a collector
- Buyers pay a recycling fee of $4 to $6 when they purchase TVs, monitors, laptops and tablets with screens over four inches, and battery-embedded products carry a fee of 1.5% of the price up to $15, to fund California’s e-waste recycling program. Source ↗
- DTSC says it is illegal to put household hazardous waste in the trash or down the drain; take it to a local household hazardous waste program or a retailer take-back. Source ↗
National haulers (Republic Services, WM, Waste Connections) hold contracts in many places; the city or county names the hauler for each street.
State-level rules
- Container deposit: California has a bottle deposit law. CRV refunds are 5 cents for containers under 24 ounces and 10 cents for 24 ounces or larger, and 25 cents since January 1, 2024 for wine and spirits in boxes, bladders or pouches. Source ↗
- Paint: California is on the PaintCare roster. PaintCare has run California’s paint program since October 2012, with free drop-off sites paid for by a fee on new paint and CalRecycle as the oversight agency. See paint. Source ↗
- Mattresses: California has a mattress stewardship program. CalRecycle oversees California’s mattress stewardship program, which the Mattress Recycling Council runs for used mattresses, box springs and futons. See mattresses. Source ↗
- Electronics: DTSC says unwanted covered electronic devices, video displays with screens over four inches such as TVs, monitors, laptops and tablets, are universal waste that cannot go in household trash. Source ↗
- SB 1383 requires cities, counties and special districts that provide solid waste collection to provide organic waste collection to all residents and businesses, with limited waivers, and each jurisdiction chooses its own collection service. Source ↗
- In California, a futon mattress that separates from its frame or base counts as a mattress for Bye Bye Mattress drop-off, while futon frames and bases do not. Source ↗
State agency
- State agency: California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) — Waste Permitting, Compliance, and Mitigation Division; Materials Management and Local Assistance Division. It brings together California’s recycling and waste management programs, from the CRV beverage container program to solid waste facility permits and inspections and oversight of local enforcement agencies and local diversion programs. Official website ↗
- Find your local program: CalRecycle Where to Recycle map: CRV, e-waste, tire and used oil drop-off sites by county and city ↗
Flag of California. Public-domain artwork. Artwork: Original: Donald Graeme Kelley, Vectorization: Devin Cook. Source. Resized to 480 pixels wide.
Materials with their own rules
Paint · Lithium-ion batteries · Household hazardous waste · Mattresses · Pizza boxes · Christmas trees
Mattress disposal in California: the state’s Bye Bye Mattress rules, fee and drop-off sites.
Neighboring states
Sources
Official pages used: calrecycle.ca.gov · calrecycle.ca.gov · www2.calrecycle.ca.gov · sanitation.lacity.gov · sanitation.lacity.gov · sandiego.gov · getitdone.sandiego.gov · sanjoseca.gov · sanjoseca.gov · sanjoseca.gov · calrecycle.ca.gov · paintcare.org · calrecycle.ca.gov · dtsc.ca.gov · calrecycle.ca.gov · byebyemattress.com · calrecycle.ca.gov · dtsc.ca.gov.
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