Commercial & Apartment Recycling

Mandatory Commercial Recycling Law

In an effort to reach a 75% diversion rate by 2020, the State has passed a commercial recycling law that will affect many businesses and apartment dwellers, as well as government agencies and schools.

Effective July 1, 2012, the law mandates businesses, schools and government offices that generate four cubic yards or more of solid waste per week to recycle. Owners of multi-family housing complexes with five or more units must also offer recycling services, and the residents are required to recycle, regardless of the amount of solid waste generated. The law does not specify the types or amounts of materials that must be recycled.

Staff members from the Solid Waste and Recycling Division of the Mariposa County Public Works Department is responsible for monitoring the new program.

Commercial Options

Commercial recycling options include:

• Presorting and self-hauling to the Landfill;
• Finding a vendor to haul presorted materials away (many stores, for example, break down and bale cardboard boxes for pickup);
• Taking co-mingled recyclables to one of the County transfer stations;
• Requesting a free bin for co-mingled recyclables from Total Waste Systems, the County’s franchised hauler.

Hauling service agreements will be one method used to determine whether businesses meet the four cubic yard criterion. For example, businesses that subscribe to pickup of a one cubic yard container four times a week or a four cubic yard container once a week would both fall under the law, whether or not they fill the containers.

More Information

Letter to Businesses (PDF)

What and How to Recycle at the Landfill and Recycling Center (PDF)