The City of Claremont provides trash, recycling, and organics collection services for businesses in Claremont. Containers and bins are available for commercial accounts with personalized collection schedules. Under recent state law, certain businesses in Claremont are required to recycle waste including organics.
Commercial Recycling
Assembly Bill 341, requires all businesses that generate four or more cubic yards of waste per week and all multifamily complexes with five or more units to implement a recycling program. To be in compliance, businesses must recycle, compost, or divert recyclable material. Businesses can comply by placing recyclables in the City-provided bin, self-hauling recyclables to a recycling center, or donating reusable material.
Businesses can arrange for convenient recycling services through the City of Claremont Sanitation Division. A representative from the City will assist you with developing a program for your business to recycle. Staff will analyze the amount and type of recyclables in your waste stream and recommend a recycling program that meets your needs.
Mandatory Commercial Food Waste Recycling
Assembly Bill 1826 requires all businesses that generate a certain amount of organic waste to begin recycling this waste. Organic waste includes food scraps, vegetable trimmings, plate scrapings, and spoiled food.
The City of Claremont recently developed a convenient Commercial Food Waste Recycling Program. Under the new program, the City will provide 64-gallon food waste recycling cart(s) for collecting separated food waste. Food waste must be “clean” and free of trash, glass, metal, and plastics. Food waste carts will be serviced Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.
The rate structure for your trash and recycling service is based upon the frequency of trash pickups. The cost to collect recycling and food waste is built into current trash rates. Businesses may find that recycling segregated food waste reduces the amount of trash that the business generates, which can reduce the overall trash bill by reducing the number of weekly trash pickups.
Food waste containers are typically located near trash enclosures and have a brown lid stamped “food waste.” The containers can be used to collect food scraps, including meat, dairy, bones, fruit and vegetable trimmings, breads and grains, eggshells, plate scrapings, and coffee grounds. Food waste and plate scrapings must be placed in a clear plastic bag and placed in the shared food waste container for pickup.
Businesses and multi-family complexes that already participate in the food waste recycling program are encouraged to regularly revisit the program with their staff and/or tenants and ensure that they are recycling the maximum amount of food waste possible. The State of California will require the City to perform inspections and enforcement to ensure compliance.
Commercial and Multi-Family Green Waste Recycling
Claremont business that produce landscape/green waste must divert the material from the landfill. Due to space constraints, creating a separate green waste collection program is not practical for many businesses and multi-family residences. If you produce green waste, the most efficient way to collect and divert green waste is likely through your landscape contractor. Businesses and property managers can comply with the new regulations by ensuring that landscape maintenance contracts are updated to require that the landscaper divert green waste material from landfill. By doing so, you are ensuring that green waste produced by your business is handled appropriately.
Commercial and Multi-Family Waiver
Per state law, certain businesses and multi-family complexes may qualify for waivers from mandatory organic recycling programs. Commercial businesses must request and receive a waiver from the City to avoid mandated participation.
To learn about available exemptions, please review the attached SB 1383 Waiver Request Form.(PDF, 513KB)