California Composting Regulations: SB 1383 Rules, Fines, and Exemptions

California’s composting regulations, set by Senate Bill 1383, require nearly every household and business in the state to separate organic waste from the trash and place it in a designated green container. The rules took effect January 1, 2022. After a 60-day notice to comply, local jurisdictions can fine violators $50 to $100 for a first offense, with penalties escalating from there.

What Counts as Organic Waste

The definition is broader than kitchen scraps and yard trimmings. Under the SB 1383 regulations, organic waste includes food, green material, landscape and pruning waste, organic textiles and carpets, lumber, wood, paper products, printing and writing paper, manure, biosolids, digestate, and sludges.¹

That means food-soiled paper belongs in the organics stream: a greasy pizza box, a used paper towel, a napkin smeared with food. Clean untreated lumber qualifies too. Hazardous wood waste and non-compostable paper do not.²

The Three-Container System

Most jurisdictions run collection on a three-bin model:

Green container: organic waste only, including food scraps, yard trimmings, food-soiled paper, and untreated wood.
Blue container: non-organic recyclables, and in some places also paper products, printing and writing paper, dry lumber, wood, and textiles.
Gray container: everything else that is neither organic nor recyclable.

Compostable plastics labeled to the ASTM D6400 standard can go in the green container, but only if the local composting facility has told the jurisdiction in writing that it can process them.² Many facilities still reject compostable utensils and bags because they look too much like conventional plastic and contaminate loads. Check your hauler’s guidance before using the green bin for anything labeled compostable.

What Households Must Do

Every household, single-family and multi-family alike, must separate organic waste and put it in the green container. Jurisdictions have to provide organic collection service to all residents unless they qualify for a waiver or they instead require residents to haul their separated organics to a processing facility themselves.¹ If you live in an apartment, follow the property manager’s instructions for the shared bins.

The practical pitfall is contamination. A single plastic bag dropped into the green bin can ruin an entire truckload and keep it from being turned into usable compost. Jurisdictions are required to educate residents on what goes where through mailers, electronic notices, or direct outreach.¹ Whether a resident gets fined for a contaminated bin is left to each jurisdiction’s discretion; the state does not require it.

Home Composting Still Counts

Backyard composting remains legal and compliant. If you already compost food scraps and yard waste at home, you do not have to redirect that material into the green bin instead. Jurisdictions may also let residents self-haul organic waste to a composting facility or drop-off hub as an alternative to curbside pickup.¹

What Businesses and Other Commercial Generators Must Do

Businesses, schools, and large venues must subscribe to organic waste collection just like residents. On top of that, commercial generators have to provide clearly labeled and accessible organic waste containers for employees, tenants, and customers, and they must train their workforce annually on proper sorting.¹

For restaurants and institutional kitchens, the annual training rule is where compliance tends to slip. Staff turnover means new hires need the same lesson throughout the year, not just once each January. Keeping a dated roster of who was trained and when gives you something to show an inspector.

Edible Food Recovery for Larger Food Businesses

Separate from the green-bin rule, SB 1383 requires certain large-scale food businesses to contract with a food recovery organization or service to collect and redistribute surplus food that is still safe to eat.³ The regulations split covered businesses into two tiers.

Tier 1 generators have been subject to the requirement since January 1, 2022:

Supermarkets
Grocery stores with 10,000 or more square feet of total facility space
Food service providers
Food distributors

Tier 2 generators have been subject to the requirement since January 1, 2024:

Restaurants with 5,000 or more square feet or at least 250 seats
Hotels with on-site food service and at least 200 rooms
Health facilities with on-site food service and at least 100 beds
State agency cafeterias with 5,000 or more square feet or at least 250 seats
Local education agencies with on-site food facilities
Large venues and events

Covered generators must keep a current written agreement with at least one food recovery organization, spelling out the types of food collected, pickup frequency, and the quantity recovered in pounds per month. They also have to keep copies of those contracts and a record of the name, address, and contact information for each recovery organization they work with.⁴

Liability Protection for Food Donors

The federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act shields anyone who donates apparently wholesome food in good faith to a nonprofit organization from civil and criminal liability tied to the food’s nature, age, packaging, or condition. The protection falls away only for gross negligence or intentional misconduct, such as knowingly handing over spoiled or contaminated food.⁵

Fines for Non-Compliance

Jurisdictions were required to begin enforcing SB 1383 against residents and businesses by January 1, 2024.⁶ Enforcement begins with a written notice giving the violator 60 days to come into compliance. If the problem continues after that window, fines escalate within a 12-month period:

First violation: $50 to $100
Second violation: $100 to $200
Third or subsequent violation: $250 to $500

The same ladder applies to residents who refuse to subscribe to organic collection service and to businesses that fail to participate.⁷ Fines for contaminated residential bins are not required by the state; each jurisdiction decides whether to issue them.

Who Can Be Exempt

Not every community in California faces the full set of requirements. CalRecycle grants several waivers to qualifying jurisdictions, which can reduce what is required of residents and businesses within them:⁸

Low population waiver for cities and special districts that disposed of fewer than 5,000 tons of solid waste in 2014 and have a total population under 7,500.
Low population waiver for unincorporated counties, available where individual census tracts have fewer than 75 people per square mile.
Elevation waiver for jurisdictions entirely at or above 4,500 feet, which relieves them from separating food waste and food-soiled paper.
Rural exemption for jurisdictions that meet the statutory definition of a rural jurisdiction and adopt a governing body resolution explaining the need.
De minimis waiver for non-local entities and local education agencies that generate very small amounts of organic material.

An emergency waiver also allows organic waste to be landfilled for up to 90 days when a processing facility suffers an equipment failure or faces operational restrictions from a regulatory agency.⁸ If you live or operate in a small, remote, or high-elevation area, ask your local waste agency whether a waiver applies before assuming the standard rules do.

1
CalRecycle. Statewide Mandatory Organic Waste Collection
2
Legal Information Institute. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 14, 18984.1 – Three-Container Organic Waste Collection
3
CalRecycle. Food Recovery Questions and Answers
4
Legal Information Institute. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 14, 18991.4 – Recordkeeping Requirements for Commercial Edible Food Generators
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 1791 – Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act
6
CalRecycle. Jurisdiction Enforcement
7
CalRecycle. Enforcement Questions and Answers
8
CalRecycle. Department-Issued Waivers