San Diego, California Trash Pickup Schedule & Recycling Rules

States & Cities › California › San Diego

• Who collects: City of San Diego Environmental Services Department ↗, for about 225,000 eligible homes on public streets: single-family houses and buildings of up to four units on a lot. Apartments, businesses and homes on private roads with private service use a City-approved franchise hauler
• Your pickup day: depends on your address; Collection Schedule Lookup ↗ on Get It Done. If your address is not listed, a private hauler likely serves your home
• Holiday changes: six holidays; on those, collection runs one day later for the rest of the week; Collection Schedules ↗
• Missed pickup: report by 5 p.m. the day after your collection day; Report Missed Pickup on Get It Done ↗
• Contact: 858-694-7000, trash@sandiego.gov
• Official website: City of San Diego: Collection Services ↗

San Diego trash pickup is run by the City’s Environmental Services Department for about 225,000 eligible homes; apartments, businesses and homes on private roads use private haulers. The gray trash bin and green organics bin go weekly and the light blue recycling bin every other week, on a day set by your address in the Collection Schedule Lookup. What trips people up: since July 1, 2026, crews empty only City-provided gray trash bins, not old black ones.

Photo: Downtown San Diego skyline seen from San Diego Bay. Mds08011, 2021-04-24. CC BY 4.0 · Source. Resized for web.

San Diego trash and recycling pickup schedule

Automated trucks empty City-issued bins Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The green bin goes on the same day as trash. Trash goes mainly to the Miramar Landfill, recyclables to local sorting facilities and organics to the Miramar Greenery.

• Bins go out after 6 p.m. the evening before and no later than 6 a.m. on collection day, and come back in by 6 p.m. that day.
• Bag or wrap loose trash before it goes in the gray bin. Recyclables go in dry and loose, never bagged. Organics go loose or in paper bags, never in plastic bags, even ones labeled compostable.
• Since July 1, 2026, the City collects trash only from City-provided gray bins. It is phasing out old dark blue recycling bins too; once the new light blue bins reach your neighborhood, the dark blue ones are no longer emptied. Request removal of old containers ↗ on Get It Done.
• Nothing is collected in bags, boxes or containers the City did not provide.
• The City serves only homes on dedicated public streets. Homes on private roads, apartments, businesses and mixed-use properties already served by a private hauler use a City-approved franchise hauler ↗. Those haulers must also provide weekly organics collection.

What goes in the San Diego recycling bin

The City’s What Goes Where guide asks for recyclables empty, dry and loose. Recycling is mandatory for City customers.

• Yes: aluminum and steel cans, aluminum foil and trays, glass bottles and jars, cardboard (empty and flattened), paper cartons, mixed paper, plastic bottles, containers and lids, hard plastics and plastic toys, and Styrofoam packaging.
• Shredded paper goes in a closed paper bag.
• No: plastic bags, wrap and film, clothes, hoses, wires, electronics, hazardous waste, batteries, paper napkins and towels, compostable and biodegradable plastics such as PLA, and diapers. Putting trash, organics, hazardous or medical waste in the blue bin is unlawful.
• Gray bin instead: dishes and glassware; paper plates, cups and takeout boxes; tissues and disposable wipes; plastic straws and utensils; anything labeled compostable or biodegradable; hygiene products, diapers and pet waste. The guide’s rule for the gray bin: when in doubt, throw it out.

The gray bin has its own limits. Food, yard waste, recyclables, electronics, hazardous waste, chemicals, batteries and compact fluorescent bulbs stay out, and so do liquids, hot coals, ashes, lit cigarettes, furniture, appliances and auto parts. Ashes or sawdust are allowed only thoroughly wet in a sealed plastic bag; broken glass goes wrapped in several layers of newspaper and pet waste wrapped in newspaper or a plastic bag. Only small amounts of construction debris fit, such as drywall scraps under 2 square feet; concrete, bricks, tile, lumber, dirt, rock and carpet do not.

Yard waste and food scraps

To meet California’s SB 1383, the City has collected food scraps with yard waste in the green bin since January 2023. Its rule of thumb: if it grows, it goes.

• Yes: fruit and vegetable peels, plate scrapings including rice, beans and cooked food, dairy, coffee grounds and filters, food-soiled paper such as paper towels, napkins, paper bags and parchment paper, plant and yard trimmings, and untreated wood.
• No: plastic bags, bags or products labeled compostable or biodegradable (takeout containers, coffee pods, cups, plates), glass, food packaging, pet waste, plant pots, dirt and rocks.
• Wrap food scraps in newspaper or a paper bag, or freeze them until collection day. Layering food with yard waste keeps the bin cleaner. If you line your kitchen pail with plastic, empty it into the green bin and throw the liner away.
• If your property still has an original green yard waste container, the City plans to replace it with the standard organic waste container later in 2026. No green bin at all: call 858-694-7000.
• City residents may load up to 2 cubic yards of compost and mulch free at the Miramar Greenery.
• Christmas trees: the 2025-26 program ran December 26 to January 16 with 16 drop-off sites for City residents. Green and flocked trees are taken with stands, bags, netting, lights, ornaments and tinsel removed; artificial trees are not. A tree can also go in the green bin.

Bulk trash pickup in San Diego

The City of San Diego does not provide bulky item pickup or any other curbside pickup of large items, and furniture and appliances are not allowed in the bins. The winter 2025-26 Curbsider newsletter says bulky item removal requests through the Residential Waste Collection Services Portal will be available starting July 2027. Until then:

• Mattresses and box springs go free, with no limit, to the Mattress Collection Site at the Miramar Landfill entrance (details below). They must not be severely damaged, wet, twisted, frozen, soiled or infested with bedbugs; those go in the trash. Futon mattresses count once removed from the frame. Sofa beds, crib mattresses, air mattresses and car beds are refused. Landfill fees may apply to a mattress brought in with other waste.
• Furniture and other large items can be hauled to the Miramar Landfill. From July 1, 2026, a car, SUV, minivan or pickup (or a trailer up to 9 feet with nothing in the vehicle) pays a flat $75 for general refuse from inside the City, $86 from outside. Bulky, dense or oversized loads count as special handling at $108 ($122 non-City), as does construction debris. Yard waste kept separate from other material costs $50 and clean wood $25. Larger loads, such as a vehicle plus a loaded trailer, pay more, and uncovered loads pay $50 extra.

San Diego holiday trash schedule

Only six holidays change City collection: New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. When one falls on a collection day, nothing is collected that day and every route runs one day later for the rest of the week, so Friday routes move to Saturday. When a Saturday holiday is observed on Friday, Friday collection runs as usual. The City posts each holiday’s changes on its holiday schedule page ↗. Homes served by a private hauler follow that hauler’s schedule.

Hazardous waste, electronics and drop-off sites

Batteries, toxic products, electronic waste, paint, bulbs, motor oil, needles and syringes, propane and helium tanks and chemical cleaners never go in any City bin; batteries crushed in trucks start fires. City residents drop off household hazardous waste free, by appointment only, booked on Get It Done ↗. Bring proof of City residency: a photo ID or a recent bill showing your name and address. Keep the materials in the trunk or truck bed.

• Household Hazardous Waste Transfer Facility, Miramar Landfill entrance, 5161 Convoy St., San Diego, CA 92111, north of State Route 52. Wednesday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., by appointment, except holidays. Free for City residents. Takes paint, cleaners, pesticides, mercury devices, motor oil and oil filters (including contaminated oil), all household and car batteries, fluorescent tubes, CFLs and LED bulbs, propane cylinders, needles and other sharps, and over-the-counter and prescription medicines except prescription painkillers. Refuses electronic waste and oxygen, SCUBA, supplied-air, acetylene and other welding, calibration, refrigerant, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide cylinders.
• Miramar Landfill and Recycling Center, 5180 Convoy St., San Diego. Monday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., with self-dumping vehicles accepted until 4:30 p.m. Closed Sundays and on the six collection holidays. Flat rates as listed under bulk trash; pay by check (preferred), major credit card, or Visa or Mastercard debit card with matching ID. Miramar Recycling Center: 858-268-8971.
• Mattress Collection Site, east side of the Miramar Landfill entrance, 5161 Convoy St., San Diego, CA 92111, next to the HHW facility. Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; closed weekends and on the six holidays. Free mattresses and box springs through the Bye Bye Mattress program, no limit; they must have been used and discarded in California.

One-Day Collection Events run eight times a year, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at schools, colleges and Balboa Park, and take only motor oil, oil filters, lamps, car batteries and household batteries. The City posts each date and site on its collection events page.

• Electronics: the HHW facility does not take e-waste; the City points to the Earth911 recycling search ↗.
• E-bike and other batteries: the City also lists Call2Recycle drop-off locations.
• Paint: free at PaintCare California drop-off sites ↗, most with a 5-gallon limit and containers of 5 gallons or less; leaking, unlabeled and empty containers are refused.
• Motor oil and filters: also taken at CalRecycle Used Oil Certified Collection Centers ↗, if not mixed with anything else.
• Sharps: California law has barred home-generated sharps from trash, recycling and green bins since September 1, 2008.

Fees and billing

City trash service carries a Solid Waste Management Fee. Measure B, approved by voters in November 2022, amended the People’s Ordinance so the City could charge for the service, and the City Council adopted the fee in June 2025. It appears on the County property tax bill as “SD Solid Waste Mgmt Fee”, and the amount depends on the size of your gray bin. Each bundle includes one trash bin, one 95-gallon recycling bin and one 95-gallon organics bin.

• An extra 35-gallon trash bin costs $6.98 a month and an extra 65-gallon one $13.23 from July 1, 2026.
• On June 9, 2026, the City Council lowered the fees from July 2027; the 95-gallon bundle had been set at $55.00 and then $57.55. Fees through June 2027 did not change.
• In the first year every customer was billed $523.20 for the 95-gallon bundle, in two installments of $261.60. Customers who chose a smaller gray bin get a prorated credit on the 2026-27 tax bill, and extra bins bring a prorated charge.
• Recycling and organics are charged at the 95-gallon rate even if you ask for a smaller bin.
• Service changes go through the Residential Waste Collection Services Portal ↗ or 858-694-7000, generally one per fiscal year, resetting each July 1. Renters ask their landlord or property manager.
• Owners who think the fee is wrong can file a Fee Claims and Dispute Form. A Financial Assistance Program, funded with $3 million from the General Fund plus donations, helps eligible property owners while funds last. Both are linked from Trash Service Updates ↗.

Missed pickup, damaged bins and new bins

Report a missed collection on Get It Done ↗ or to Customer Services at 858-694-7000 by 5 p.m. the day after your scheduled collection day (the day after the actual collection if the route ran late) to get a return trip. There is no return trip if the bin was not out by 6 a.m. and the truck served your neighbors, or if the report comes late. Overfilled, overweight or broken bins are tagged and left.

For a lost or damaged bin, file a Repair or Replace Damaged Container request ↗ on Get It Done; City customers no longer pay separate fees for repairs, replacements or deliveries. A bin that falls into the truck is returned or replaced. Bins belong to the City and stay with the address when you move.

Extra bins, a different gray bin size and other service changes go through the Residential Waste Collection Services Portal ↗ or 858-694-7000, and only the owner or property manager can request them. The Container Delivery Lookup ↗ shows estimated delivery dates. Owners of newly eligible homes apply by phone, at trash@sandiego.gov or on Get It Done, and get one 95-gallon bin of each color unless they ask otherwise.

Set-out rules and enforcement

• Place bins at the curb line of a public street or alley with the wheels against the curb, side by side, at least 3 feet from each other and from parked cars, lamp posts, poles, guy wires and mailboxes.
• Keep them out from under trees, low wires, basketball hoops and building overhangs.
• Each bin may weigh no more than 300 pounds.
• Between pickups, store bins on your property out of sight of the street, for example in the backyard, behind a fence or in the garage.
• Residents who cannot move their bins and have no one in the household who can may apply for ADA assisted collection with a form completed by a medical provider, renewed each year.
• Anyone who breaks the Waste Management Regulation faces enforcement under the Municipal Code; the City can also stop service to a property that no longer meets its rules.

Materials with their own rules

• Mattresses: free drop-off at the Miramar Mattress Collection Site on weekdays; the City has no pickup.
• Household hazardous waste: free by appointment at the Miramar HHW Transfer Facility, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
• Lithium-ion batteries: never in any bin; the HHW facility and One-Day Collection Events take household batteries.
• Paint: free at PaintCare sites or the HHW facility.
• Aerosol cans and propane tanks: propane cylinders go to the HHW facility by appointment; propane and helium tanks never go in a bin.
• Christmas trees: green bin or a City drop-off site after Christmas.
• Pizza boxes

More in California

• California trash and recycling rules
• Glendora trash pickup
• Los Angeles
• San Francisco
• San Jose
• Holiday changes by city
• Bulk pickup rules by city
• Missed pickup contacts by city
• Drop-off locations by city