SB 1383 Compliance for Cities and Counties

Under SB 1383, every California city and county has to run an organics program, not just offer one: provide organic waste collection to all residents and businesses, educate them, set up edible food recovery, inspect and enforce, buy back recovered organic products each year, plan for enough processing capacity and keep records that prove all of it. The duties sit in CalRecycle’s regulations in Title 14, Division 7, Chapter 12 of the California Code of Regulations, and most of them have been in force since January 1, 2022. Processing capacity is the piece that ties the rest together, because collected material has to go somewhere that recovers it.

Key takeaways

SB 1383 is an organics diversion and procurement law run by CalRecycle. It is not an air rule, although the facilities it sends material to still need air permits.
Jurisdictions had to comply with implementation requirements from January 1, 2022, and had to begin enforcement on or before January 1, 2024.
The annual procurement target is 0.08 tons of organic waste per resident per year. The 2022 targets run through December 31, 2026, and are recalculated for population after that, so 2027 is a new cycle.
As of October 2026, AB 2902 and AB 2346 (both 2024) give jurisdictions more ways to meet the target, including a five-year target option that must be requested by January 1, 2027.
Counties lead capacity planning. If verifiably available capacity falls short, jurisdictions owe CalRecycle an implementation schedule.
A jurisdiction can hand tasks to haulers and other entities by contract, but it remains responsible for compliance.

What SB 1383 asks of a jurisdiction

CalRecycle’s jurisdiction resources page lists the duties in plain terms, and the final regulation text is the legal source. The table below is the short version as of October 2026. Read the linked pages before you change a program, because CalRecycle updates guidance over time.

Duty	What it means in practice	Key date or figure
Collection	Organics service for all residents and businesses, provided automatically rather than by subscription	In force since January 1, 2022
Education	Outreach to generators, haulers and facilities	Ongoing
Edible food recovery	A program that recovers edible food from the waste stream, with inspections of Tier 1 and Tier 2 donors	Ongoing
Inspection and enforcement	Compliance reviews, contamination monitoring, complaint investigation, penalties	Enforcement on or before January 1, 2024
Procurement	Recovered organic waste products each year, sized by population	0.08 tons per resident per year
Capacity planning	County-led estimate of disposal, available capacity and shortfall	Implementation schedule if short
Other ordinances	Enforceable measures for specific sections of CALGreen and the Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance	Ongoing
Records and reporting	All SB 1383 records kept in an Implementation Record; report on implementation to CalRecycle	Annual

The statewide goals behind all of this are on CalRecycle’s SB 1383 overview: 75% less organic waste sent to landfills and 20% of unsold, still-edible food sent to food recovery organizations, both set for 2025. Our list of key California SB 1383 requirements summarizes each rule with its source. This guide follows the order a city or county usually works in.

Collection: the service every jurisdiction must provide

CalRecycle’s collection systems page allows three-container, two-container or one-container service. In a three-container system, green holds organics, blue holds recyclables and gray holds what is left. Either the lid carries the designated color, or the body does with a lid that matches, is gray or is black. New containers need the required colors and labels. Containers bought before January 1, 2022 can stay in use until the end of their functional life or January 1, 2036, whichever comes first.

A one-container system works differently: everything goes in a gray container, and the hauler delivers it to a high-diversion organic waste processing facility that has to show it can separate and recover 75% of the organic material in the mixed stream.

Low-population and high-elevation jurisdictions can hold waivers, and rural jurisdictions can hold an exemption. CalRecycle’s AB 2902 and AB 2346 guidance (last updated October 2026) says a jurisdiction holding a rural exemption stays exempt from the collection and procurement requirements until January 1, 2037, without taking any action.

Education and edible food recovery

Jurisdictions must educate everyone the program touches: residents, businesses, haulers and facilities. Education is also the first enforcement step when contamination is found.

Edible food recovery runs in parallel. The jurisdiction sets up a program, identifies the commercial edible food generators in its area, and inspects them. Capacity planning includes food recovery too: the capacity planning page asks jurisdictions to count mandated donors and food recovery organizations, estimate how much edible food donors dispose of, and estimate the capacity needed to recover it.

Inspection and enforcement

CalRecycle’s jurisdiction enforcement page sets out what a jurisdiction must do each year:

Review commercial businesses, including multifamily properties of five units or more, that generate two cubic yards or more of solid waste per week. A paper audit can satisfy this.
Monitor container contamination, either with route reviews (randomly selected containers, with all routes reviewed annually) or with waste evaluations at least twice a year in two different seasons.
Inspect Tier 1 and Tier 2 commercial edible food generators.
Investigate complaints of alleged violations.
Issue a notice of violation and, if the entity does not comply by the deadline, start an action to impose penalties. Deadlines can be extended for circumstances beyond the entity’s control.

The contamination rule in 14 CCR section 18984.5 adds detail. A notice can be left on the container, gate or door, or sent by mail or email. If a waste evaluation finds contaminants above 25 percent of the measured sample for any container type, the jurisdiction must notify all generators on the sampled routes or run a targeted route review.

Procurement of recovered organic waste products

14 CCR section 18993.1 sets the per capita target at 0.08 tons of organic waste per California resident per year, and CalRecycle’s procurement targets page explains how to apply it.

How the target is calculated

Take the jurisdiction’s population as reported by the California Department of Finance.
Multiply by 0.08. The result is the target in tons of organic waste.
Convert to products using the factors in the regulation. One ton of organic waste equals 0.58 tons of compost or 1.45 cubic yards of compost, or one ton of mulch. There are separate factors for renewable gas used as transport fuel, for electricity or heat, and for electricity from biomass conversion.

CalRecycle’s own worked example uses 100,000 residents: 100,000 x 0.08 = 8,000 tons of organic waste, which CalRecycle equates to 11,600 cubic yards of compost if met entirely with compost. To convert your own target by weight, apply the regulation’s 0.58 factor and check the result in CalRecycle’s Procurement Calculator Tool.

Eligible products are compost, mulch, renewable gas and electricity from anaerobic digestion, and electricity from biomass conversion, in any combination. Compost counts only if it was produced at a permitted or authorized compostable material handling operation (or an in-vessel digestion facility that composts on site). Digestate on its own does not count. Mulch counts only if the jurisdiction has an enforceable ordinance requiring it to meet land application standards and it came from an eligible permitted facility.

Procurement does not have to mean purchase. CalRecycle’s procurement page says jurisdictions can meet the target through direct service providers, such as haulers or landscape contractors, under a written contract, and must keep records and report procurement each year.

What changes in 2027

The 2022 targets apply from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2026. The regulation requires CalRecycle to recalculate targets on or before January 1 every five years, so new population-based targets apply from 2027. As of October 2026, CalRecycle’s published list of jurisdiction targets is still based on January 1, 2021 population estimates, and the per capita figure in the regulation is still 0.08. Check CalRecycle for your 2027 figure.

AB 2902 and AB 2346 add options, according to CalRecycle’s October 2026 guidance:

Five-year target. Jurisdictions have until January 1, 2027 to tell CalRecycle they want a five-year target covering 2027 to 2031, equal to five times the annual target.
Local per capita target. Jurisdictions in the same county can set a local figure from a disposal-based waste characterization study, for up to five years after the study.
Reduced targets for jurisdictions with low-population or elevation waivers, calculated by CalRecycle.
Mulch from tree trimming and recovered edible food can together count for up to 10 percent of the target.
Direct expenditures, such as investment in community composting, equipment used only to apply compost or mulch, and free compost distribution sites, can together count for up to 10 percent of the target until December 31, 2035.

Our guide to municipal procurement and end markets covers how to actually use the compost.

Capacity planning and the role of processing

Counties lead capacity planning with the cities inside them. Each jurisdiction estimates the organic waste it disposes of, identifies capacity inside or outside the county that is verifiably available, estimates what more it needs, and submits an implementation schedule to CalRecycle if it comes up short.

Two rules shape where that capacity can be. Under 14 CCR section 18990.1, a jurisdiction may not enforce an ordinance, policy or permit condition that prohibits or unreasonably limits lawful processing and recovery of organic waste, or that limits export to a facility that recovers it. The same section says a jurisdiction may still arrange through a contract or franchise for a hauler to take organic waste to a particular facility, and may arrange with a facility to guarantee permitted capacity.

Collected food scraps are wetter and denser than yard trimmings and draw closer attention from air districts. Sustainable Generation (SG) supplies covered aerated static pile systems with the GORE® Cover. SG describes Kern County’s Shafter-Wasco Compost Facility as a county public works project, built with SG BUNKER® Systems, that helps the county meet SB 1383 diversion mandates. SG’s Kerman profile shows the private route: a hauler, Mid Valley Disposal, that piloted food waste composting before building at full scale. Covered systems are one option among several, and the methods comparison sets out the others fairly.

Records, reporting and who can do the work

Every SB 1383 record goes in the Implementation Record: inspections, route reviews, compliance reviews, enforcement actions, procurement documentation and the ordinances behind them. Jurisdictions report to CalRecycle on implementation, and new or revised procurement ordinances are reported through the Electronic Annual Report.

Under 14 CCR section 18981.2, a jurisdiction may designate a public or private entity, such as a hauler or a regional agency, to carry out its duties through a contract or agreement. It keeps copies in the Implementation Record and stays ultimately responsible. Our guide to SB 1383 requirements for haulers covers the hauler side of those contracts.

Compliance checklist for staff

[ ] Collection service is automatic for every resident and business, with compliant container colors and labels on new containers
[ ] Education materials reach generators, haulers and facilities, with a process for contamination notices
[ ] Edible food recovery program running, with Tier 1 and Tier 2 donors identified and inspected
[ ] Annual commercial compliance reviews and contamination monitoring scheduled
[ ] Enforcement ordinance adopted and penalties process documented
[ ] Procurement target confirmed for 2027, five-year option decided before January 1, 2027
[ ] Direct service provider contracts and procurement ordinances in place before procurement happens
[ ] County capacity plan current, with a named outlet for every collected ton
[ ] Hauler contracts and other designations filed in the Implementation Record

Outside California

Other states use different models: disposal bans, generator thresholds tied to distance from a facility, or collection mandates. See organics diversion laws by state for the verified summary.

FAQ

Does SB 1383 require a city to build a compost facility?

No. It requires the city to provide collection, plan for enough capacity and procure products, but the capacity can be owned by the city, the county, a regional agency or a private processor, inside or outside the county, as long as it is verifiably available. Many jurisdictions contract for capacity. Others build because no workable facility exists within reasonable haul distance, or because owning the facility gives them a direct source of compost for procurement.

What is the SB 1383 procurement target per resident?

As of October 2026, 0.08 tons of organic waste per resident per year under 14 CCR section 18993.1, multiplied by the jurisdiction’s Department of Finance population. The 2022 targets apply through December 31, 2026. CalRecycle recalculates targets for population every five years, so confirm your figure for the 2027 cycle on CalRecycle’s procurement pages before you budget for it.

Can our franchise hauler handle contamination monitoring?

The regulation lets a jurisdiction designate a public or private entity, including a hauler, to carry out its duties through a contract or agreement. The jurisdiction stays ultimately responsible for compliance and must keep the agreement in its Implementation Record. Write the tasks, the records the hauler must deliver and the reporting schedule into the contract, so the city can prove compliance during a CalRecycle review.

What happens if a jurisdiction falls short?

CalRecycle can fine or penalize a jurisdiction whose program does not comply, according to its guidance for elected officials. Where the shortfall is capacity, the regulation requires an implementation schedule. The practical answer is to document every step, because the Implementation Record is what CalRecycle reviews, and to start capacity projects early, since permitting and construction take time.

Next step

If capacity is the gap in your county’s plan, start with how a covered aerated static pile works and what it needs from a site: see how SG’s technology works. The municipal track collects the guides that take a city or county from mandate to a working facility.

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