Green Cart Rules · CR&R Organics · SB 1383 Food Scraps · Temecula
What Goes in the Temecula Green Waste Bin, and What Gets It Tagged?
Temecula's green cart is an organics cart now: grass, leaves, weeds, small branches, food scraps and food-soiled paper go in, loose and with the lid closed. Palm fronds, cactus and agave, bamboo, sod and dirt, treated wood and plastic bags, even compostable ones, stay out. Anything on the no list, or too big for the cart, is a haul from $195 a load.
Family-owned in Temecula since 2021 · Licensed & insured · 5,000+ loads since 2021
Wild West Junk Removal · 41713 Niblick Rd, Temecula, CA 92591 · (951) 837-8072 · Mon to Sat: 7AM-7PM · Sun: Closed · Family-owned and operated by Weston Molitor since 2021
The Short Version
Why Is the Green Cart an Organics Cart Now?
Because California's SB 1383 made it one. Since January 1, 2022, every city has had to give homes organics collection, and in Temecula that's the green cart: yard trimmings, food scraps and food-soiled paper all go in it.
That's the one change most people in Temecula still haven't caught up with, and it moves both lists. The cart takes more than it used to on the kitchen side and less than you'd guess on the yard side. The city's SB 1383 page spells out the food-scrap part: collect scraps in the pail CR&R provides and empty it into the green organics cart.
Everything in that cart rides to CR&R's digester in Perris, where it's turned into natural gas and compost. That plant is behind most of the surprising no's. It chews through leaves and lettuce fine. It doesn't do well with a palm frond, a shovel of dirt or a fence board soaked in preservative, and CR&R would rather leave your cart at the curb than send that load to Perris.
What's the Quick Yes and No List?
Yes: grass, leaves, weeds, hedge trimmings, small branches that let the lid close, flowers, fallen fruit, food scraps of every kind, coffee grounds, napkins, paper towels, greasy pizza boxes, and a Christmas tree cut in pieces. No: palm fronds, cactus and agave, bamboo, sod, dirt and rock, treated or painted lumber, logs and stumps, pet waste, and any plastic bag, including the ones labeled compostable.
Three Carts
Which Cart Does What in Temecula?
Black is trash, blue is recycling and green is organics, and only CR&R's own carts get emptied, with the lid closed. Bags on the ground, a spare can from the hardware store or a neat pile next to the cart all stay behind.
What Goes in the Black Cart?
Trash: whatever's left after you pull out the recyclables and organics. It's also where small green-cart rejects go, like a few fronds or a chunk of agave cut to fit.
What Goes in the Blue Cart?
Recycling: bottles, cans, paper and cardboard. Never yard waste or food. One bag of clippings can spoil a recycling load.
What Goes in the Green Cart?
Organics: yard trimmings, food scraps and food-soiled paper. Anything that grew and isn't on the no list below.
The Yes List
What Can You Put in the Green Cart?
If it grew in the yard or came off your plate, it probably belongs in the green cart. On the yard side the test is size, not species: branches have to be short enough that the lid closes.
- ✓Grass clippings and thatch, dumped in loose, not bagged.
- ✓Leaves and pine needles, including the ones that blew over from the neighbor's liquidambar.
- ✓Hedge, shrub and rose trimmings, cut to fit. Thorns don't bother the digester; they only bother you.
- ✓Small branches and twigs, cut down so the lid shuts. Thin enough to snap by hand is the safe size.
- ✓Weeds, dead annuals and spent vegetable plants, seeds and all.
- ✓Cut flowers and dead houseplants. Knock the soil off the roots and keep the pot.
- ✓Fallen fruit that rotted under the citrus or the fig.
- ✓Food scraps: peels, plate scrapings, leftovers, meat and fish, dairy, bread, rice, coffee grounds, eggshells.
- ✓Food-soiled paper: napkins, paper towels, pizza boxes, coffee filters, tea bags and uncoated paper plates.
Food Scraps
Do Food Scraps Really Go in the Green Cart?
Yes, all of them, including meat, fish, dairy and leftovers, loose or in paper, never in plastic. SB 1383 made food scraps part of the organics stream statewide, and Temecula's green cart is where they go.
What counts is anything you eat and anything left over from making it, plus the paper that touched it. So the kitchen trash should be light now, and everything you used to scrape into the black cart should be going green.
The bag rule is what gets carts tagged. No plastic bags: not grocery bags, and not the green ones from the store that say compostable. The sorters can't tell a compostable bag from a regular one at line speed, so they pull them all, and a cart full of bagged scraps is a contaminated cart. Put scraps in loose, in a paper bag, or wrapped in newspaper.
How Do You Keep the Green Cart From Smelling in August?
Line the bottom with yard trimmings or newspaper before any food goes in, so nothing sticks. Freeze meat and fish scraps until the night before collection. Put the cart out every collection day even when it's half empty. Park it in the shade, hose it out once a month, and a shake of baking soda handles the rest.
The No List
What Gets a Green Cart Left at the Curb?
Palm fronds, cactus and agave, bamboo, sod and dirt, treated or painted wood, logs and stumps, pet waste and plastic bags. Those are the items I see next to tagged carts, and here's where each one goes instead.
| Item | Green cart? | Where it goes instead |
|---|---|---|
| Palm fronds and palm skirts | No | A handful can go in the black cart if it fits. A full trim or a skirt is a haul. |
| Cactus, agave, yucca, ice plant | Assume no | Too fibrous and wet for the digester, and the spines go through gloves. Small pieces in the black cart; a big dead agave is a haul. |
| Bamboo | Assume no | It wraps the grinders like fronds do. Black cart in short pieces, or a haul. |
| Sod, dirt, soil, rock, gravel | No | Not in any curbside cart in real amounts. Dirt spoils the compost and makes the cart too heavy to lift. A haul, where heavy loads can cost more. |
| Pressure-treated lumber, railroad ties, landscape timbers | No | Treated wood waste under state rules. It goes only to a landfill authorized for it, like Lamb Canyon, Badlands or El Sobrante, never the curb. |
| Painted or stained wood, plywood scraps | No | Black cart for a few small pieces. A whole fence or deck is construction debris. |
| Logs, stumps, root balls, limbs thicker than your wrist | No | Branches that let the lid close are fine. Anything that needs a chainsaw is a haul. |
| Dog and cat waste, litter | No | Black cart. |
| Plastic bags, including compostable ones | No | Paper bags, newspaper, or nothing. |
| Meat and fish bones | Check | Food scraps are accepted, but some CR&R programs send bones to the trash. Ask CR&R before you count on it. |
Why Can't Treated Wood Go in Any Cart?
Because California regulates it as treated wood waste. Old fence posts, deck boards, railroad ties and landscape timbers are almost always pressure-treated with chemical preservatives, and the state's treated wood waste rules say it can't be burned or mixed with other wood and has to go to a landfill authorized to take it. The state Water Board keeps the list of authorized landfills; in Riverside County it includes Lamb Canyon, Badlands and El Sobrante. If you're tearing out a whole fence, that's our deck and fence removal service, and we keep the treated wood separate.
Cart Rules
What Else Gets a Green Cart Skipped?
Five habits do it: a lid that won't close, bagged material, the wrong cart, extras piled beside the cart, and contamination the driver can see. Any one of them can get the cart tagged and left full.
- ✓The lid won't close. An overfilled cart with branches sticking up gets skipped. Cut it down or hold some for next week.
- ✓It's bagged. Plastic bags of clippings or scraps get pulled as contamination.
- ✓It's in the wrong cart. Clippings in the blue cart, or food in the black cart, is the most common mistake.
- ✓It's next to the cart, not in it. Piles, bags and extra cans beside the cart stay where they are.
- ✓The driver can see a problem. Fronds, dirt or a plastic pot on top of the load is a tag waiting to happen.
Cities have had to enforce SB 1383's contamination rules since 2024, so a tag isn't only a note anymore. The first one is usually a warning. The fix is the same every time: the right items, in the right cart, loose, with the lid down.
When It Won't Fit
What Do You Do When It Won't Fit in the Cart?
You have three options: feed it in over the next few weeks, haul it to a Riverside County landfill yourself, or have it hauled. The cart is built for a weekly trickle, not a whole yard.
If it's a few trimmings over, cut it down and spread it over two or three collection days. If it's palm fronds, a lawn tear-out or a full pruning pile, the cart was never the answer. You can ask CR&R about an extra green cart, or load it into a pickup and take it yourself: clean branches and brush to a green-waste recycler like Agriscape on Borel Road in Murrieta or B.P. John Recycling on Matthews Road in Romoland, or green waste to Lamb Canyon Landfill at the county's rate. Call ahead, because fronds, leaves and mixed loads aren't accepted everywhere. Or text us a photo: our yard waste removal in Temecula starts at $195 for a quarter load, and fronds, sod and junk can all ride in the same load.
When a pile has been sitting since spring, it's also a fire question. Our Temecula yard waste calendar covers when debris piles up and when it should leave.
Who Is Weston Molitor?
Founder · Wild West Junk Removal · Temecula, CAI started Wild West in 2021 with one dump trailer, and I look inside a lot of green carts in Temecula. Usually it's the one at the curb with a tag on the lid and a pile of fronds next to it.
The lid tells you grass and leaves. It doesn't tell you what to do with a dead agave, a strip of sod, the old fence boards, or the food scraps the state now wants in there. So I wrote down the list I wish was printed on the cart.
"Use the green cart for everything it takes. It's free with your service. Call me for the stuff it won't take or the pile it can't hold."
FAQ
What Else Do People Ask About the Green Waste Bin?
These are the green cart questions I hear most around Temecula.
No. Palm fronds don't break down in the Perris digester and they wrap the grinders, so CR&R treats them as trash. A few can go in the black cart if they fit. A full trim or a fallen skirt has to be hauled.
No. Soil and rock aren't accepted in any curbside cart in real amounts. They wear out the sorting equipment, spoil the compost, and make the cart too heavy for the arm to lift. A lawn tear-out is a haul.
Assume no. Cactus, agave, yucca and ice plant are too fibrous and too wet for the digester, and the spines are a hazard on the sort line. Small pieces can go in the black cart; a big dead agave is a haul.
The driver can tag the lid and leave the cart full. CR&R audits routes for contamination under SB 1383, and the first tag is usually a warning. Repeated contamination is what cities now have to follow up on.
No. Pet waste and cat litter go in the black trash cart, bagged. They're not organics for the digester, even though they're organic.
No. Sorters can't tell a compostable bag from a regular plastic one at line speed, so they pull every bag. Put food scraps in loose, in a paper bag, or wrapped in newspaper.
Keep Reading
What Should You Read Next About Yard Waste?
Start with the yard waste page if the pile is bigger than the cart, and the Christmas tree guide in December.
- ServiceYard Waste Removal in TemeculaFronds, sod, brush and branches hauled from $195 a load.
- GuideTemecula Yard Waste CalendarWhat piles up in each season, and when to haul it.
- GuideChristmas Tree Disposal in TemeculaThe CR&R tree window and what to do if you miss it.
- ServiceDeck and Fence RemovalTreated-wood fences and decks torn out and hauled.
- ServiceHorse Manure RemovalManure hauling for horse properties, since it can't go in the cart.
- PricingJunk Removal PricesThe four-bracket ladder and every surcharge.
Too Big for the Cart? Want It Gone This Week?
Text a photo of the fronds, sod or brush the cart won't take. You get a load size and a firm price back before we roll out.
Mon to Sat: 7AM-7PM · Sun: Closed
Wild West Junk Removal · 41713 Niblick Rd, Temecula, CA 92591 · (951) 837-8072 · service@wildwestjunkremoval.com
Sources & References
- temeculaca.govCity of Temecula: SB 1383 ImplementationOrganics collection, the CR&R food-scrap pail, and route audits.
- calrecycle.ca.govCalRecycle: SB 1383 Organic Waste ReductionThe state organics rule: what counts as organic waste and why it stays out of landfills.
- dtsc.ca.govDTSC: Treated Wood WasteWhy pressure-treated lumber is regulated and where it can legally go.
- waterboards.ca.govState Water Board: Landfills Authorized for Treated Wood WasteIncludes Lamb Canyon, Badlands and El Sobrante in Riverside County.
Written by Weston Molitor, owner of Wild West Junk Removal. Last reviewed and updated October 15, 2026.
Cart rules change; CR&R's Temecula materials are the final word. Hauling prices: $195 quarter load, $350 half, $495 three-quarter, $595 full 12-yard trailer, current as of October 2026.