Do you recycle your food scraps? 

California's new state law, SB 1383, fights climate change by prohibiting Californians from putting organic waste (food and yard waste) in the landfill. Through this law, what was once waste is reused in our community! Simply place all organic waste in your curbside green bin and it will be taken to a local composting facility.

Organic waste that should go in your green bin includes any food scraps like bread, meat bones, cheese, leftovers and vegetable peels, food-soiled paper like napkins, paper towels and coffee filters, and yard waste like leaves, grass clippings, twigs and flowers.

Your food becomes healthy soil.

When these materials are placed in the green bin, they are turned into usable, organic compost. Compost is like gold to farmers, and the nutrients present in our recovered food scraps help keep our local farms healthy and productive.

Putting your food scraps in the green bin is one of the easiest actions you can take to reduce your environmental footprint. When we send organic waste to the landfill, it’s buried without access to oxygen, and can’t decompose like it’s supposed to. This process emits methane, a climate super pollutant over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide. By composting these materials instead of landfilling them, California can achieve the climate equivalent of taking 3 million cars off the road.

Your food powers homes.

In your neighborhood, your organic waste is picked up by your hauler. Organic waste in San Luis Obispo County is taken to Kanadevia Inova’s Kompogas facility, located in the city of San Luis Obispo. There, your food and yard waste goes through a process called anaerobic digestion, where it’s turned into organic compost and clean energy in as little as two weeks. Kompogas produces enough energy from your organics to power over 600 homes. Learn more about this state of-the-art facility, the first of its kind in the US, at www.kompogas-slo.com/.

If you don’t yet have a way to collect your food scraps, we are here to help! Call your hauler or the IWMA to get your FREE food scrap pail, which can be used in your kitchen to collect all food scraps before transporting them to your curbside green bin.

Learn more about recycling in SLO County.

Explore our website to learn more about how to recycle and dispose of waste in SLO County! 

Thank you for your help keeping SLO County compliant with this state law. Together, we saved over 65,000 tons of organic material from the landfill in 2024.