The purpose of the City of San Mateo’s garbage ordinance is to ensure that all solid waste and yard waste are collected and disposed of regularly and in a proper manner. Dumping of any materials is illegal and should be reported (See Illegal Dumping for more information). This ordinance is strictly enforced in order to keep San Mateo a beautiful city in which to live and do business.

In 2018, The City updated its Solid Waste Container Ordinance.

Cart Service Hours

For Downtown San Mateo – defined as the area zoned as Central Business District or Central Business District Support – all solid waste containers must be at the curb no earlier than 6 p.m. the day prior to service and returned to their usual location by 11 a.m. the day of service. 

For residential customers, waste containers must be at the curb after noon the day prior to service and must be retrieved by midnight the day of service. The new ordinance was adopted on November 19, 2018 and took effect on December 20, 2018. Enforcement begins in January 2019.

Service Provider

Recology San Mateo County is the franchise waste hauler for the City of San Mateo. You should have 3 bins:

1 Green for composting
1 Blue for single-stream recycling
1 Black for waste

Garbage, recycling and compost are picked once a week.

Questions?

Please contact Recology of San Mateo County at 650-595-3900.

Click on the link for more information on the Franchise Agreement between the City of San Mateo and Recology for Recyclable Materials, Organics Materials, and Solid Waste Collection Services.