Organic Waste Recycling

Senate Bill 1383 (SB 1383) was signed into law by Governor Brown in 2016. The State law requires jurisdictions to reduce organic waste disposal by 75% and increase edible food recovery by 20% by the year 2025. The law launches a statewide initiative to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants such as methane gas. Methane is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide and landfills are responsible for 21% of the state’s methane emissions.

Organic waste means food waste, green waste, landscape and pruning waste, nonhazardous food waste, and food-soiled paper waste that is mixed in with food waste. To comply with SB 1383, the City will launch an organic waste collection and recycling program later this year. The program will apply to residential and commercial customers.

SB 1383 Requirements for Businesses

SB 1383 requires all businesses to subscribe to and participate in the City’s recycling and organics collection service through Burrtec Waste or self-haul recyclables and organic waste to a composting facility.

Businesses must provide collection containers for organic waste and recyclables in all areas where disposal containers are provided for customers, except in restrooms. To reduce contamination, businesses must provide education to employees, contractors, tenants, and customers regarding how to properly sort organic material into the correct containers.

How does this impact your business?

Certain food vendors are classified into two groups. Tier 1 Generators must be compliant by 2022 and includes: Grocery stores, Supermarkets, Food Distributers, Food Service Providers, and Wholesale Food Vendors. Tier 2 Generators must be complaint by 2024 and includes: Restaurants, Hotels, Health Facilities, Educational Agencies, and Large Venues.

By 2024 all generators must comply with the States requirements and:

  1. Maintain a contract or written agreement with a Food Recovery Organization; and
  2. Maintain a record of donations indicating all types of food being donated in pounds per month, frequency of donations and contact information of contracted Food Recovery Organization utilized.

For more information please visit CalRecycle's website.

Edible Food Recovery

To reduce unnecessary food waste and help address food insecurity, SB 1383 requires that by 2025, California will recover 20 percent of edible food that would otherwise be sent to landfills, to feed people in need.

The law requires the following:

  • Jurisdictions must establish food recovery outreach programs to help connect edible food generators with food recovery organizations.
  • Edible food generators must arrange to recover the maximum amount of their edible food that would otherwise go to landfills. To do this, the edible food generator must establish a written contract with a food recovery organization.
  • Food recovery organizations that work with edible food generators must maintain records.

What is edible food?

Edible food is food intended for people to eat, but not sold because of age, appearance, size, or surplus. Edible food includes prepared foods, packaged foods, and produce. All edible food must meet the food safety requirements of the California Retail Food Code.

To ensure the maximum amount of edible food is recovered, the legislation requires edible food generators to establish written agreements with food recovery organizations and services. For additional information about how to donate edible food to a food recovery organization, please visit the Riverside County Department of Environmental Health.

Edible Food Generators

SB 1383 sorts edible food-generating businesses as either Tier 1 or Tier 2. See the chart below for types of businesses that fall into each category and when they are required to start recovering edible food.

Edible Food Generators diagram

Tier 1 Edible Food Generators

  • Supermarkets: A full-line, self-service retail store with gross annual sales of $2,000,000 or more, and which sells a line of dry grocery, canned goods, or nonfood items and perishable items.
  • Grocery Stores: A store that is 10,000 square feet or more
  • Food Service Providers: An entity primarily engaged in providing food services to institutional, governmental, commercial, or industrial locations of others based on contractual agreements with these organizations.
  • Food Distributors: A company that distributes food to entities such as supermarkets and grocery stores.
  • Wholesale Food Vendors: A business engaged in the wholesale distribution of food, where food is received, shipped, stored, or prepared for distribution to a retailer, warehouse, distributor, or other destination.

Tier 2 Edible Food Generators

  • Restaurants: Businesses with 250 or more seats, or facility size equal or greater than 5,000 square feet.
  • Hotels: Hotel with an on-site food facility and 200 or more rooms.
  • Health Facilities: Health facility with an on-site food facility and 100 or more beds.
  • Large Venues: A permanent facility that annually seats or serves an average of more than 2,000 individuals within the grounds of the facility per day of operation.
  • Large Events: An event, including, but not limited to, a sporting event or a flea market, that charges an admission price, or is operated by a local agency, and serves an average of more than 2,000 individuals per day of operation of the event, at a location that includes, but is not limited to, a public, nonprofit, or privately owned park, parking lot, golf course, street system, or other open space when being used for an event.
  • State Agencies: A State agency with a cafeteria with 250 or more seats or a total cafeteria facility size equal to or greater than 5,000 square feet.
  • Local Education Agencies: A school district, charter school, or county office of education not subject to the control of city or county regulations that have an on-site food facility.

Edible Food Recovery Organizations

The “Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act” (Public Law 104-210) protects food donors from liability when donating to nonprofit organizations and protects donors from civil and criminal liability as long as the food was donated in good faith and safe handling procedures were followed.

City Link Outreach
16815 Spring St
Fontana, CA 92335
Phone: (909) 803-1059
Serving Riverside and San Bernardino County
Will accept perishable & non-perishable food

Feeding America
2950 Jefferson St, Suite B
Riverside, CA 92504
Phone: (951) 359-4757
Serving Riverside and San Bernardino County
Will accept perishable & non-perishable food

The Fruit of Our Hands
7000 Indiana Ave., #114
Riverside, CA 92506
Phone: (951) 201-0514
Serving Riverside County
Will accept perishable & non-perishable food

Mana Ministries
9875 Bellegrave Ave
Jurupa Valley, CA 92509
Phone: (951) 236-9477
Serving Riverside County
Will accept prepared or packaged perishable & non-perishable food

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