Brown or Black Bin (Trash)
All waste must fit inside the standard 35-gallon cart with the lid closed completely. Overfilling your cart can lead to overage charges or container upsizing.
Accepted Items
- ✓Single-use plastic bags, grocery bags, and film wrap
- ✓Polystyrene and Styrofoam packaging blocks, cups, and trays
- ✓Disposable baby diapers, wipes, and q-tips
- ✓Incandescent and halogen light bulbs
- ✓Mylar snack packaging, chip bags, and candy wrappers
- ✓Unusable shoes, clothes, and textiles that cannot be donated
- ✓Window glass, mirrors, and home ceramics
Blue Bin (Recycling)
Do not bag recyclables; place all items loose, empty, clean, and dry inside the blue cart. Shredded paper is the only exception and must be bagged inside a clear plastic bag.
Accepted Items
- ✓Clean, flattened cardboard and paperboard packaging
- ✓Clean office paper, junk mail, catalogs, and newspapers
- ✓Glass bottles and jars (emptied and rinsed)
- ✓Aluminum beverage cans, clean foil, and steel/tin food cans
- ✓Rigid plastic bottles, jugs, tubs, and jars
Do NOT Include
- ✕Loose plastic shopping bags, bubble wrap, or plastic film wrap
- ✕Styrofoam block or food packaging materials
- ✕Garden hoses, extension cords, or rope
- ✕Greasy cardboard or food-soiled pizza boxes
- ✕Alkaline or lithium batteries
- ✕Light bulbs or fluorescent tubes
Yard Waste Bin
Place organic materials completely loose in the green cart. Keep out plastic bags, soil, sod, rocks, concrete, building materials, cat/dog feces, lumber, palm fronds, cactus, and ice plants.
Accepted Items
- ✓Kitchen food scraps (raw/cooked meats, bones, cheese, fruits, vegetables)
- ✓Grass clippings, tree leaves, weeds, and garden flowers
- ✓Brush prunings and small branches under 3 inches in diameter and 3 feet long
- ✓Coffee grounds, filters, and tea bags
- ✓Paper egg cartons and paper bags
Bulky Item Pickup
Frequency
4 free collection appointments per calendar year (Up to 4 items per pickup)
Placement
Call Monterey City Disposal Service at 831-372-7977 to schedule your appointment. Place all accepted items curbside by 8:00 AM on your scheduled collection morning.
Accepted
- ✓ Large home furniture (sofas, tables, dressers, chairs)
- ✓ Mattresses and box springs
- ✓ Major home appliances (washing machines, dryers, stoves)
- ✓ Refrigerators, freezers, and air conditioners (require landfill special handling fees)
- ✓ Televisions, computer monitors, and electronics (require landfill special handling fees)
Not Accepted
- ✕ Household hazardous waste (liquid paints, automotive chemicals, gasoline)
- ✕ Dirt, sand, rocks, sod, and concrete
- ✕ Construction and demolition debris
- ✕ Standard household garbage
Holiday Schedule
General Rule
MCDS maintains regular weekday schedules for almost all holidays. The only exceptions are Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day. If your scheduled collection day falls on or after one of these holidays, service is delayed by exactly one day for the rest of that week.
Yard Waste Exception
All organic waste and recycling collection schedules shift uniformly during holiday delay weeks.
Normal collections proceed on their regular schedule if Christmas Day, New Year's Day, or Thanksgiving falls on a Saturday or Sunday.
Observed Holidays
!Contamination Tips
Loose Recyclables Only in the Blue Cart
Never bundle your recycling inside plastic shopping bags. Mechanical sorting systems cannot slit plastic bags safely, meaning bagged recycling is often sent directly to the landfill as trash.
Keep Palm Fronds and Cactus Out of Organics
Never place palm fronds, cactus, or ice plants in your green cart. Their fibrous, water-logged structures do not break down during standard composting loops and damage commercial wood-chipping grinders.
Rinse Bottles and Jars to Avoid Pest Issues
Ensure all food jars, beverage cans, and plastic jugs are thoroughly empty and rinsed before recycling. Sticky residue ruins clean paper products and attracts local pests to your bins.
Seasonal Information
Autumn Leaf Management
October - DecemberWith heavy seasonal leaf drop, sweep all leaves directly into your green organics cart. Residents are strictly prohibited from sweeping or blowing leaves into street gutters, as loose garden debris clogs storm drains and causes local street flooding.
Post-Holiday Christmas Tree Recycling
JanuaryReal Christmas trees are collected curbside during the first two weeks of January on your regular collection day. Strip all ornaments, tinsel, stands, and lights. Trees under 6 feet tall do not need to be cut; trees over 6 feet tall must be cut in half.
About Monterey Waste Management
Preserving the Peninsula: Monterey's Solid Waste Framework
In the scenic coastal community of Monterey, residential trash, recycling, and organic programs are operated under an exclusive franchise agreement with Monterey City Disposal Service (MCDS). Tailored to keep the local marina, pine-clad hills, and neighborhoods pristine, this structured program relies on a standardized three-cart setup. Regular collection is carefully coordinated to maximize diversion of resources while guarding our sensitive marine sanctuary.
Active SB 1383 Organic Redirection on the Central Coast
In strict compliance with California's organic sorting rules under SB 1383, Monterey residents must separate all food leftovers and garden debris from their standard trash. The weekly 64-gallon green cart serves as a unified organics bin, combining kitchen food scraps—like bones, meat, and vegetables—directly with yard clippings. Organic waste collected by MCDS is safely composted at the regional ReGen Monterey facility to enrich local agricultural soils.
Specialized Curbside Motor Oil and Battery Recovery
To eliminate fire hazards in haul trucks and stop chemical runoff from entering the bay, Monterey provides unique weekly curbside recycling services for domestic hazard items. Residents can recycle household batteries directly at the curb. Additionally, residents can safely dispose of used motor oil and oil filters on their scheduled pickup morning by placing them adjacent to their carts using the county's specialized collection containers.
On-Call Curbside Large Item Collection Appointments
Rather than standard neighborhood junk drops that lead to illegal dumping and street debris, Monterey provides single-family residential accounts with up to four scheduled large item pickups per year. Residents must schedule these collections directly with MCDS to safely clear away oversized appliances, mattresses, or household furniture without self-hauling.
Drop-off Facilities
ReGen Monterey (Peninsula Landfill & Public HHW)
14201 Del Monte Boulevard, Marina, CA 93933
Materials Accepted
Last Chance Mercantile
14201 Del Monte Boulevard, Marina, CA 93933
Materials Accepted
Frequently Asked Questions
How do single-family homes schedule a free large item pickup in Monterey?
Monterey residents can schedule up to four free curbside large item collections per year, with a limit of up to four items per pickup. Contact Monterey City Disposal Service at 831-372-7977 to arrange your collection appointment. Note that some special items like refrigerators and TVs may incur landfill fees.
How can I safely recycle household batteries curbside in Monterey?
Place used standard household-size batteries directly inside a clear zip-top bag and set it on top of your blue recycling cart lid on collection morning. Ensure you cover the terminals of lithium and rechargeable batteries with tape to prevent friction sparks.
Can I throw food waste into my standard gray trash cart in Monterey?
No. Under California's SB 1383 climate directives, all household food scraps, leftovers, and organic waste must be sorted out of standard trash. Place food leftovers and soiled paper napkins directly into your weekly green organics container instead.
Does my weekly trash collection schedule change on holidays in Monterey?
Service proceeds exactly on schedule for almost all holidays. The only holidays that delay collection are Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day. If one of these holidays falls on a weekday, curbside pickup is delayed by exactly one day for the rest of that week.