Deadline looms for residents to make choices on new San Diego trash fee

San Diego officials on Thursday reminded residents of the deadline to set up customer accounts for trash and recycling services for eligible property owners is fast approaching.

Residents have until Sept. 30 to choose a service level and size of trash and recycling bins they would like. City crews will begin delivering bins starting Oct. 6.

Voters narrowly passed Measure B in 2022, which helped repeal “The People’s Ordinance” trash collection model, allowing the city to charge a monthly fee for solid trash pickup.

The change applies to single-family homes and multi-family complexes with up to four residences on a single lot.

The June approval of the solid waste fee broke the 106-year-old precedent of the city not charging those groups a fee for trash pickup. Starting July 1, homeowners in the city began to be charged $42.76 a month for three 95-gallon cans – one for trash, one for recycling and one for organics such as yard waste or food scraps – regardless of how much waste they produce.

But residents still may change how large their bins are and pay a different price accordingly.

To switch service levels, residents can go online to see if their home or building is eligible and learn about next steps.

Jeremy Bauer, assistant director for Environmental Services, thanked the “tens of thousands of San Diegans” who so far have logged on to select bin sizes and encouraged more people to do so.

“Creating an account empowers customers to track their service and fee history, receive text or email updates from the city, and to manage future container needs,” he said. “Even if you want the default size, it’s important to sign up to unlock those benefits. Establishing yourself as our customer also ensures you get the correct containers for your property right from the start of rollout.”

The portal will allow residents to create an account unique to their property. A mailer containing the unique code is being sent to property owners this week, for anyone who may have misplaced an initial notification earlier this year.

Councilmembers Sean Elo-Rivera and Joe LaCava proposed Measure B in 2022 to allow the city to collect a fee for solid waste collection, transport, disposal and recycling.

Opponents, though, claimed that property taxes already paid for trash pickup.

After Measure B’s passage, a cost study came showed the initial estimated fee had jumped to $36.72 per month on the low end and $47.59 on the high. That received almost universally negative feedback from the public, so a revised fee schedule then went to a range of $31.98-$42.76 in the first year by delaying certain services.

New trash bins will be gray instead of black, followed by new, light-blue recycling bins. Deliveries will continue through June 2026.

After rollout, city haulers will collect only from new bins; the old black trash bins and dark blue recycling bins will be picked up by the city and recycled.

New green organic waste bins, provided to more than 200,000 city households in 2023, will not be provided at this time unless a customer doesn’t already have one or requests an additional green bin or service change.

Households no longer eligible for city service are required to contract with a private hauler. San Diego is working with these haulers, who have confirmed they have the capacity to serve all transitioning customers.

The city takes away 300,000 tons of trash and 150,000 tons of recycling, compostables and yard waste annually.

The People’s Ordinance had been criticized for years by activists for being inequitable because although every household pays property tax, only single-family households received trash pickup at no additional charge.

According to city documents released with the ballot measure in 2022, the price of keeping the service as it existed without adding a fee was expected to be at least $234.7 million between the fiscal years 2023 and 2027.