Residential Food & Yard Waste Collection

New Food and Yard Waste Collection

In compliance with state law (SB-1383), all residential food waste, food-soiled paper, food-soiled cardboard, and yard waste will be collected together in your green cart.

For more information on the Food and Yard Waste Collection program, please visit RepublicServices.com/ChulaVistaCA.

Service Announcement:

Republic Services will no longer be servicing customer-owned cans moving forward. If you don’t have a green cart or would like to request an additional one, please visit RepublicServices.com/ChulaVistaCA or call (619) 421-9400. Single-family residents can get up to two carts at no additional charge.

En Español:

What will be Accepted in your Green Food and Yard Waste Container?

The food and yard waste items below are accepted in your green food and yard waste cart. Food is no longer accepted in trash or recycling carts.

Food Scraps and Food Waste

Coffee Grounds & Filter Egg Shells

Orange Peel Apple Core Banana Peel Coffee grounds, Eggs/shells, Fruit and Vegetable Scraps

chicken chicken bone meat and bones fish and bones

Seafood, Meat and Bones

Uneaten Bread Piece

Breads, Cereals, Tortillas, Rice and Beans

Uneaten cheese

Dairy Products - Cheese

Food-Soiled Paper Products

Coffee Filters & Tea Bags	Greasy Pizza Boxes, Recycle the Clean Portion
Food-soiled Paper Plates	Food-soiled Paper Towels & Napkins
Paper/cardboard Takeout Containers

Yard Waste

Grass Clippings	Tree & Brush Clippings
Leaves	Flowers & Houseplants (without pot and dirt, place these in trash)

FOOD WASTE RECYCLING IS EASY!

1. SEPARATE any food scraps and always scrape extra food from your plate into your bin.

2. COLLECT food scraps and waste using a kitchen pail, reusable tub, or paper-based takeout boxes and bags. Freezing food waste or wrapping in newspaper can also prevent leaks and odors.

3. EMPTY food waste, food-soiled paper, and plant debris into your green food and yard waste container.

FREE Food Waste Kitchen Caddy

A kitchen caddy is an optional container that can be placed under your

kitchen sink or another convenient area for your household to use.

The City of Chula Vista has begun distributing kitchen caddies for Chula Vista households. Availability of kitchen caddies at distribution events listed below is on a first-come, first-served basis, and limited to one per household.

Check back for future events or visit our permanent pickup location below.

Permanent pickup areas:

Office of Sustainability
Chula Vista City Hall, Building C
276 Fourth Avenue
Chula Vista, CA 91910

Hours: Monday - Thursday, 8:00 am - 4:00 pm; Friday, 8:00 am - 12:00 pm

Republic Services Customer Service Building
891 Energy Way, Chula Vista, CA 91911

Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00am – 5:00pm; Saturday 8:00am – 12:00pm

Call us at (619) 691-5122 or e-mail environmentalservices@chulavistaca.gov for more information.

Leave these out of your green food and yard waste container

These items are not accepted in the green food and yard container. Please place them in their appropriate container.

TRASH Plastic or Compostable Bags. USE Paper Bags Instead.	REUSE Plastic Grocery Bags. TRASH Plastic Film Wrap.	TRASH Foam Products. Avoid Using Them. RETURN Packing Peanuts to your Local Mail Store.

NO Plastic Takeout Containers. RECYCLE them Instead.	NO Plastic or Compostable Cutlery. TRASH them Instead.	NO Rubber Bands or Twist Ties. REMOVE and Place in Trash.

NO Glass of any Kind. RECYCLE Glass Bottles.	NO Painted or Chemically Treated Wood. TRASH it Instead.	NO Rocks, Dirt, Nails, Concrete or Asphalt. CALL Republic Services for Disposal Options at (619) 421-9400

For more helpful food and yard waste collection information visit our FAQ page here.

Community Composting

Community composting programs are ways communities can increase local resilience, build sustainability awareness, and provide quality soil amendments for local use (CalRecycle, 2023). Community composting creates a closed loop system where food waste from homes is gathered local and brought to a nearby composting site. Once local food scraps and organic waste have been processed, the result compost is used to fertilize gardens and farms nearby, which in turn grow food to be sold and consumed in the local community.

There are opportunities in Chula Vista to send organic waste to community composting organizations. However, participants of any community or at-home compost program in Chula Vista are not exempt from complying with State and local mandatory organics and food waste recycling programs and/or food waste prevention and rescue programs.

To learn more about community composting visit CalRecycle's webpage here.

City of Chula Vista

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