Contamination Monitoring

Under California Senate Bill 1383 (SB 1383), cities across California including the City of Chino Hills are required to take steps that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by requiring the recycling of organic waste and enforcing stricter regulations on waste disposal to reduce the amount of trash going to the landfill.

Cart Monitoring and Enforcement

As required by the State to ensure compliance with SB 1383, local jurisdictions were required to establish and implement enforcement programs that monitor recycling, organic, and trash carts for contamination, starting in January 2024. Waste Management (WM) will also began monitoring for overfilled carts at this time. As of July 1, 2025, WM has begun charging fees for recycling and organic cart contamination and overfilling in Chino Hills. The contamination changes are part of California's SB 1383 regulations which must be implemented by all cities, and aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by improving the way cities collect and process recycling and organic waste.

Understanding Contamination and Overfilling

Contamination occurs when the wrong materials find their way into the wrong cart, such as plastic bags or food-soiled paper in the recycling cart, and plastic or compostable bags, in the organics cart. Contamination can cause damage to processing equipment, risks to employees, and result in the improper disposal of recyclable materials. To help combat this issue as a community, it is crucial for residents to adhere to the guidelines and only deposit accepted materials into their designated carts. Each waste cart has a guide on top of the lid showing what materials are acceptable. Detailed information on the correct placement of materials is also available on the City's Recycling webpage. 

Overfilling occurs when too many materials are placed in one cart and the lid is not able to close completely.

WM's Smart Truck®Technology

Since January 2024, WM has been monitoring carts using Smart Truck® Technology, which takes photos of recycling and organics carts to identify contamination and overfilled carts. Then, a dedicated team of WM technicians further verifies that materials were correctly sorted. Residents have received educational notices from WM when issues were found, but charges had not been applied.

To comply with State law and ensure clean waste streams, fees are now being assessed after multiple repeat offenses. To help residents adjust, notices received before July 1, 2025, do not count toward future enforcement. Only incidents on or after July 1 are included in enforcement. Residents will receive a notification if a cart associated with their address is overloaded or contains non-acceptable materials. Please ensure your contact information is updated and your communication preferences are set by logging into your My WM account at wm.com/MyWM.

Enforcement

Residents will be charged cost-penalties by WM when they overfill or contaminate a waste cart. In the event of contamination or an overfilled cart, the following enforcement measures will be implemented within a six (6) month period starting from the date of the first incident:

First and Second Incidents

  • The contaminated and/or overfilled cart will be serviced as normal.
  •  A notification letter from WM will be mailed and/or emailed to the service account informing the resident of the potential for future penalties.

Third and Subsequent Incidents

  • The contaminated and/or overfilled cart will be serviced and fees will be assessed to resident 
    • Contamination Fee: $28.08 per incident
    • Overage Fee: $16.85 per incident 
  •  A notification letter containing photographic documentation of the contaminated and/or overfilled cart will be mailed and/or emailed from WM to the service account.

City Inspections and Lid Flips

In conjunction with WM's Smart Truck contamination monitoring program, the City will also be performing annual route audits. The City, WM, or contracted staff may be in your neighborhood throughout the year performing 'lid-flips' and looking into your carts to provide education and ensure proper sorting.