AB 341 - Mandatory Commercial Recycling

Effective July 1, 2012, California Assembly Bill (AB) 341 requires all businesses and public entities that generate four (4) or more cubic yards of garbage per week and multi-family dwellings with five (5) or more units to recycle. The purpose of the law is to reduce garbage from landfills and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Requirements

Businesses and multi-family dwellings that meet the garbage generation thresholds are required to do one of the following: 

• Source separate recyclable materials from the solid waste they are discarding and either self-haul or arrange for separate collection of the recyclables.
• Subscribe to a service that includes mixed waste processing that yields diversion results comparable to source separation.

Monitoring

The City, through its franchised waste hauler, monitors whether affected generators are complying with the requirements to recycle. If a business is not in compliance, the City informs them of the requirement to recycle and how they can recycle.

The 75% Diversion Goal

AB 341 also declares that it is the “policy goal” of the State to achieve 75% diversion by the year 2020. However, CalRecycle shall not establish or enforce a diversion rate on a jurisdiction that exceeds the current 50% diversion rate.

Compliance

Compliance is made easy through the solid waste collection program available through the City's franchised waste hauler, Recology San Mateo County. Recycling collection services are provided at no additional charge to garbage collection customers.  To set up service or ask questions, contact Recology at (650) 595-3900.

To learn more about AB 341, visit the CalRecycle or RethinkWaste website.