By volume
California starts at 4 cubic yards of commercial solid waste a week, Minnesota at 4 cubic yards of collection a week in the metro counties, and Washington's organics rule reached 96 gallons a week in 2026.143
Measured atWeekly service
A growing number of states and cities tell businesses what they have to pull out of the trash. Some go by how much a site throws away each week, some by what kind of business it is, and a few cover everyone. We read the statute or the city's own page for each one below on October 29, 2026, and every row links to it.
How these laws decide who's in
Read the trigger first. It's what tells you whether the rest of the law applies to your site.
California starts at 4 cubic yards of commercial solid waste a week, Minnesota at 4 cubic yards of collection a week in the metro counties, and Washington's organics rule reached 96 gallons a week in 2026.143
Measured atWeekly service
Food laws in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Rhode Island and Connecticut count tons of food scraps a year or a week, and most only apply within a set distance of a facility that can take them.11109
Measured atTons of food
Delaware reaches every commercial business and Austin every commercial property, no matter the size. San Francisco covers every person in the city, and Vermont's food rule covers anyone who makes food scraps.1417156
Measured atAny amount
The tracker
What the law says about who's covered and what has to be separated. We left out penalty amounts. Read the linked text for those and for the exceptions.
| State | Law | Who's covered | What it asks for | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | Public Resources Code 42649.2 | A business making 4 cubic yards or more of commercial solid waste a week, and multifamily buildings of 5 units or more | Arrange recycling service: source separate, subscribe to recycling, or use a mixed processing system that gets similar results. Customer bins sit next to trash bins with signs.1 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| California | Public Resources Code 42649.81 | A business making 4 cubic yards or more of commercial solid waste a week, with a lower 2 cubic yard trigger allowed by CalRecycle | Arrange organic waste recycling: source separate and subscribe, recycle on site or self haul, or use a mixed processing system.2 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Washington | RCW 70A.205.545 | From 2026, a business making 96 gallons or more of organic material waste a week, in areas the Department of Ecology designates | Arrange organic materials management services for that waste.3 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Minnesota | Statutes 115A.151 | Commercial buildings in a metropolitan county with businesses in NAICS sectors 42 to 81 that contract for 4 cubic yards or more of trash collection a week, plus public entities and sports facilities | Collect at least three recyclable materials, such as paper, glass, plastic and metal, and send them to a recycler.4 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Connecticut | General Statutes 22a-241b | Every generator of solid waste from a property that isn't residential | Separate the state's designated recyclables using collection containers kept apart from trash containers.5 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Connecticut | General Statutes 22a-226e | From 2025, food wholesalers and distributors, food manufacturers and processors, supermarkets, resorts, conference centers and institutions making 26 tons or more of organics a year | Separate source-separated organics and send them to an authorized composting facility with capacity.5 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Vermont | 10 V.S.A. 6605k | Since July 1, 2020, anyone who generates any amount of food residuals | Separate food residuals from other solid waste and send them to food rescue, animal feed, composting or digestion, or manage them on site.6 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Massachusetts | 310 CMR 19.017, disposal bans | Every business and institution that throws waste away in the state. The commercial food ban applies to those generating more than half a ton a week | Keep banned materials out of disposal, including recyclable paper and cardboard, glass, metal and plastic containers, metals, clean gypsum wallboard, asphalt, brick and concrete, mattresses and textiles. Wood is banned from landfills.7 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Rhode Island | General Laws 23-18.9-17 | Covered entities making 104 tons or more of organic waste a year within 15 miles of an authorized composting or digestion facility with capacity. Since 2023, educational entities qualify at 30 tons | Send organic waste to an authorized composting or anaerobic digestion facility, or manage it on site.8 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Maryland | Environment Article 9-1724.1 | Since January 1, 2024, schools, supermarkets, convenience stores and cafeterias making 1 ton or more of food residuals a week, within 30 miles of a willing organics facility with capacity. Restaurants with dining rooms are left out | Separate food residuals and divert them through reduction, donation, animal feed, on site processing or an organics recycling facility.9 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| New Jersey | P.L.2020, c.24 | Large food waste generators of listed types making 52 tons or more of food waste a year, within 25 road miles of a recycling facility | Source separate food waste and send it to an authorized food waste recycling facility.10 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| New York | Environmental Conservation Law 27-2201 and 27-2203 | A single location averaging 2 tons of food scraps a week through 2026, 1 ton in 2027 and 2028, and half a ton from 2029 | Donate excess edible food, then send the remaining scraps to an organics recycler if one with capacity is within 25 miles, or 50 miles from 2027.1112 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Pennsylvania | Act 101 of 1988, section 1501(c) | Commercial, municipal and institutional establishments in municipalities of 10,000 people or more, and in some smaller, denser ones | Separate high-grade office paper, aluminum, corrugated paper and leaf waste.13 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Delaware | 7 Del. C. 6053 | All commercial businesses since January 1, 2014 | Take part in a recycling program that covers at least the materials in the Authority's single stream program, and recycle other wastes with a commercial outlet unless that costs more than disposal.14 | Oct 29, 2026 |
State and city names link to our coverage pages for that area.
City rules
A city ordinance sits on top of the state law. Each of these four has its own rules on top of the state's.
| City | Law | Who's covered | What it asks for | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | Environment Code chapter 19 | Every person in the city, with extra duties for owners and managers of commercial and multifamily properties | Source separate recyclables, compostables and trash. Properties supply blue, green and black containers with signs, placed together, and train new tenants and staff within 14 days.15 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Seattle | Municipal Code 21.36.082 | Commercial businesses | Keep food, compostable paper, yard waste and recyclables out of the garbage. Businesses with food waste subscribe to food and yard waste service, compost on site or self haul.16 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Austin | Universal Recycling Ordinance, City Code chapter 15-6 | Owners and managers of commercial and mixed use properties, with an organics plan for food permit holders | Recycling capacity equal to or greater than trash, outdoor recycling within 25 ft of trash, signs in two languages, and a recycling plan filed each year between October 1 and February 1.17 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| New York City | DSNY business recycling rules and Local Law 146 of 2013 | Every business for recycling. Organics apply to listed food businesses over set sizes, such as food service of 7,000 sq ft and supermarkets of 10,000 sq ft | Never put recyclables in with trash. Covered food businesses separate back of house food scraps into labeled, latched containers.1819 | Oct 29, 2026 |
Turning the law into service
Most of these laws come down to the same few things at the curb: a second or third container, a schedule for each stream, and paperwork that shows you have the service. Austin wants hauler invoices with your recycling plan. California and Austin both care where the recycling bin sits next to the trash.171
Food rules are where the distance tests matter. If there isn't a facility with room inside the radius, several of these laws don't apply yet, and the agencies publish that call. Check with the state before you assume you're in or out.312
This page isn't legal advice. Laws change and most have exceptions we didn't list. Use the linked text as the final word.
Weekly cubic yards from your service invoice, or tons of food a year.
Recycling only, or recycling plus organics, and any banned items.
Some laws compare the recycling bin to the trash bin, so size both at once.
Invoices and plans are what an inspector asks for first.
Send us the address, what you throw away now and the law you're working to. We'll come back with containers and a pickup schedule from the provider network.
Questions
Of the laws on this page, California, Minnesota, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Delaware have general recycling rules for businesses. The rest are food or organics laws.
A single location averaging 2 tons of food scraps a week through 2026. That drops to 1 ton in 2027 and half a ton in 2029.11
Most of these are written for businesses and buildings, not jobsites. Construction debris usually falls under separate rules, and Massachusetts' bans on asphalt, brick, concrete, metal, clean gypsum wallboard and wood are the ones on this page most likely to reach a jobsite.7
Penalties change more often than the rules and vary by agency. Each row links to the text that has them.
Every row was last checked on October 29, 2026. If a law you work under is missing, tell us and we'll look at it.
Read next
Sources