Home › Construction Debris › CalGreen Waste Diversion
Contractor Compliance Guide
CalGreen Construction Waste Diversion: What Temecula Contractors Have to Document
California requires most permitted projects to divert at least 65% of non-hazardous construction and demolition debris from landfill — and to prove it on paper before final inspection gets signed. Here is what the code actually asks for, and where crews lose the paperwork.
Reviewed by Weston Molitor, owner of Wild West Junk Removal · Temecula, CA
The rule in one paragraph
CalGreen — the California Green Building Standards Code, Title 24 Part 11 — requires a minimum of 65% by weight of non-hazardous construction and demolition debris to be recycled, reused, or salvaged on most permitted projects. The threshold moved from 50% to 65% on January 1, 2017 and has not moved since. The requirement lives in Section 4.408.1 for residential work and Section 5.408.1 for non-residential work, and the code states plainly that if a local jurisdiction has its own C&D ordinance, the more stringent of the two governs.
The number is the easy part. The part that stalls final inspections is documentation: a waste management plan submitted before the permit issues, and weight tickets afterward that actually add up to the number you promised.
What CalGreen Actually Requires — Beyond the 65% Number
Contractors tend to read the requirement as a disposal target. The building official reads it as a records requirement. Both readings are correct, but only one of them holds up a certificate of occupancy.
Section 5.408.1 gives three routes to compliance, and a project only has to satisfy one of them. Picking the wrong route for the job type is the single most common reason a diversion report gets bounced back.
-
Route one: a construction waste management plan
The default path. You submit a written plan identifying which materials will be diverted, whether debris will be source-separated on site or hauled as bulk mixed loads, and where each stream is going. The plan goes in with the permit application. Receipts come in at the end.
-
Route two: a hauler or facility that documents diversion for you
If your waste company or processing facility can produce verifiable documentation that it meets the 65% rate, that documentation can carry the project. This is the route most remodel and tenant-improvement crews end up on, because the facility does the weighing and the math.
-
Route three: the waste stream reduction alternative
CalGreen allows a project that simply generates very little disposal to be deemed compliant. The commonly cited thresholds are 2 pounds per square foot of building area for non-residential new construction and high-rise residential, and 3.4 pounds per square foot for low-rise residential. Confirm the figure with your building official before you rely on it — enforcing agencies apply this alternative differently.
Hazardous materials sit outside all of this. Asbestos-containing material, lead paint waste, and similar streams are regulated separately and are never counted toward a diversion rate.
Which Projects Are Actually Covered
Coverage is broader than most small contractors assume. If the work required a building or demolition permit, assume it is in scope until the permit desk tells you otherwise.
| Project type | Typically in scope? |
|---|---|
| Demolition (full or partial structure) | Yes |
| New residential construction | Yes |
| New non-residential construction | Yes |
| Non-residential additions and alterations | Yes, above permit thresholds |
| Residential additions and alterations | Varies by jurisdiction and square footage |
| Tenant improvements and commercial buildouts | Usually yes |
| Permit-exempt repairs and like-for-like swaps | Usually no |
| Land clearing debris (soil, rock, tree, sand) | Often excluded from the 65% math |
That last row catches people. A lot of jurisdictions will not let land clearing debris count toward the diversion rate even though it is unquestionably diverted. If your project is mostly grading spoils, the tonnage that looks like an easy win may be worth zero on the report.
What Has to Be In the Waste Management Plan
A plan that gets approved on the first pass answers four questions without the plan checker having to call you.
- ✓
Which materials are being diverted. Name the streams: concrete and masonry, framing lumber, drywall, metal, cardboard and site packaging, asphalt roofing. Vague plans get vague approvals and then fail at the report stage.
- ✓
Source-separated or bulk mixed. The code asks you to state this explicitly, because it changes how your receipts are credited. Separate bins for clean concrete and clean metal typically earn full credit for that load. A single mixed debris box is credited at whatever recovery rate the receiving facility is certified at.
- ✓
Where each stream is going. Name the receiving facility. Many jurisdictions publish an approved facility list, and hauling to a site that is not on it can zero out the load no matter how thoroughly it was recycled.
- ✓
Estimated quantities. Tons or cubic yards. If you have run comparable jobs, use your own historical numbers rather than a generic generation factor — they hold up better when the final report has to reconcile against them.
Documenting It: The Weight Ticket Is the Whole Case
Once the permit is issued, every load leaving the site is either evidence or a hole in the report. A receipt that cannot be tied to your project is not evidence.
Facility name
The receiving facility has to be identifiable and, where a local approved-facility list exists, on that list.
Date and origin
The ticket should show the date and the jobsite address the material came from. Tickets with no point of origin are routinely rejected.
Material type
“Debris” is not a material type. Mixed C&D, clean concrete, and scrap metal are credited differently and need to be distinguishable.
Quantity and unit
Weight in tons is cleanest. Volume-only tickets force a conversion that the reviewer may not accept.
Legibility
Check the ticket before you leave the scale. A smeared thermal print discovered six months later is an unrecoverable load.
One file, all job long
Tickets scattered across three trucks and two phones is how a compliant project reports out at 41%.
The mixed-load trap
Crews often assume a mixed debris box hauled to a recycling facility counts as 100% diverted. In many jurisdictions it does not. Mixed loads are credited at the facility's certified recovery rate — frequently the same 65% you are trying to hit, which means the mixed portion of your project contributes nothing above the line. Source-separating the heavy, clean streams first is what creates margin.
The Local Layer in Temecula and Southwest Riverside County
State code is the floor, not the ceiling. Two local factors change how a Temecula-area project handles debris.
Franchise collection. The City of Temecula contracts solid waste and recycling service to CR&R under a franchise agreement, and Temecula Municipal Code Chapter 8.20 governs who may collect waste inside city limits. Jurisdictions structure franchise exclusivity differently, and contractor self-haul of your own project debris is commonly treated differently than third-party collection. Before a project starts, confirm with the city how your intended hauling arrangement is classified.
Different desk, different rules. A job in Temecula city limits, a job in unincorporated Riverside County, and a job in Murrieta or Menifee can each have their own submittal form, approved facility list, and deposit structure. Do not carry last project's paperwork to this project's counter. Call the building and safety desk that issued your permit and ask two questions: which form do you want, and which facilities do you credit.
Codes and franchise terms change. Verify current requirements with the City of Temecula and with Riverside County Building & Safety for your specific parcel before submitting.
Where This Goes Wrong on Real Job Sites
Diversion rules rarely fail on the number. They fail on sequencing and habits.
- Nobody owned the tickets. The plan was filed by the office and the hauling was done by whoever had the truck that day. Assign one person to collect and file receipts on day one.
- Separation started too late. Once drywall, framing scrap, and packaging are commingled in one pile, the clean concrete that would have carried your rate is gone. Set the separate stockpile before demo begins, not after.
- Debris went into the wrong container. Project debris put into a residential or commercial trash cart is not project debris anymore — it is uncredited, and in most jurisdictions it is a violation of the collection rules on top of the diversion problem.
- The plan and the reality diverged. The submitted plan said source-separated; the job ran bulk mixed. The report has to reconcile with the plan or explain the change.
- Land clearing tonnage was counted. Big numbers, frequently zero credit. Check before you build the report around them.
If you would rather not run the paperwork
Hauling arrangements that produce clean, itemized weight tickets from named facilities make the report a clerical task instead of an investigation. If you are weighing how to handle removal on an active site, see our overview of construction debris removal in Temecula, or compare that against a roll-off dumpster for longer-running projects. For demo-phase work specifically, see demolition cleanup.
Weston Molitor
Owner, Wild West Junk Removal · Temecula, CA
Weston has hauled construction and demolition debris across Temecula, Murrieta, and the Temecula Valley since founding Wild West Junk Removal in 2021, and has handled the sorting and receipt trail on job sites of every size — from single-room tear-outs to full structure demolition.
CalGreen C&D Diversion FAQ
CalGreen requires a minimum of 65% by weight of non-hazardous construction and demolition debris to be recycled, reused, or salvaged on covered projects. The threshold rose from 50% to 65% effective January 1, 2017. Where a local jurisdiction has adopted its own C&D ordinance, the more stringent standard applies.
It depends on the permit and the jurisdiction. Non-residential additions and alterations are commonly in scope above permit thresholds, while residential alterations vary by square footage and by local ordinance. The reliable test is the permit itself: ask the building and safety desk that issued it whether a waste management plan is required before the permit is finaled.
Usually not. Mixed construction and demolition loads are typically credited at the certified recovery rate of the receiving facility rather than at 100 percent, and loads taken to a facility outside the approved list for that jurisdiction may receive no credit at all. Source-separating heavy clean streams such as concrete and metal is what builds margin above the 65% line.
Yes, through the waste stream reduction alternative in CalGreen. A project that generates disposal below a set weight per square foot of building area may be deemed to meet the requirement — commonly cited as 2 pounds per square foot for non-residential new construction and 3.4 pounds per square foot for low-rise residential. Enforcing agencies apply this alternative differently, so confirm acceptance with your building official before relying on it.
At minimum: the receiving facility name, the date, the jobsite the material originated from, the material type, and the quantity with its unit of measurement. Tickets missing point of origin or material type are routinely rejected, and an illegible ticket cannot be reconstructed later. Check each one before leaving the scale.
No. The 65% requirement applies to non-hazardous construction and demolition waste. Asbestos-containing material, lead paint waste, and other regulated hazardous streams are handled under separate rules, require licensed abatement, and are excluded from diversion calculations entirely.