San Diego residents will soon be able to divert organic waste from the landfill as part of the city’s new Organic Waste Recycling program.
The rollout begins this week.
In compliance with state requirements, new green bins and kitchen pails will be delivered to city-serviced residents, with households in the 92102 and 92113 zip codes receiving their bins first, on Wednesday.
Residents whose trash is picked up on Wednesdays will see the bins first, with more than 64,000 set to be delivered by the end of February. Bins will be delivered to households with Thursday collection beginning in March under the current schedule.
The phased rollout will continue with about 15,000 bins delivered each week over the course of the next several months. It is expected to take until mid-2023 to complete
The new recycling program – which represents the biggest change to trash and recycling in San Diego’s history – complies with Senate Bill (SB) 1383 from 2016, which requires residents and businesses to reduce the disposal of organic waste (food scraps, food-soiled paper and yard trimmings) by 75% by 2025.
When organic waste decomposes in a landfill, it releases methane, a harmful gas that traps the sun’s heat and contributes to climate change.
The city will collect organic waste from green bins weekly on the customer’s normal trash collection day and location. It will be bound forr Miramar Greenery, where it will be broken down into compost, which is available free to residents.
“We are so proud and excited to bring this game-changing service to San Diegans,” said Environmental Services Department Director Renee Robertson. “Recycling organic waste is the single easiest and fastest thing an individual can do to fight climate change.”
The city asks that residents wait until they have received their kitchen pail before beginning to collect food scraps.
For bin delivery information, a list of what can go in the green bin and more, residents may look at the city’s Environmental Services department web page.