Trash & Recycling
Reduce, Reuse & Recycle
The City of Santee Municipal Code Chapter 9 requires that Santee residents, businesses and multi-family apartment complexes separate all recyclable materials from other solid waste. The State of California regulations require all California businesses to participate in Mandatory Commercial Organics Recycling (AB 1826) and Mandatory Commercial Recycling (AB 341).
January 1, 2022 Senate Bill 1383 (SB 1383) Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy expanded on AB 341 and 1826, expanding on the requirements for landfill, recycling and organics services to include all customers (businesses, multi-family and single-family residents). This regulation includes all generators - no matter the number of units, type of business, or amount generated to divert as mush as possible from going to the landfill by way of recycling (blue bin) or organic recycling (green bin).
Commercial and residential trash hauling, as well as industrial solid waste and recycling collection and disposal services are provided by Waste Management Inc. under an exclusive franchise agreement with the city. The City of Santee and Waste Management are here to help. Read more about the state regulations and contact us to see how we can help you comply at santeerecycles@cityofsanteeca.gov.
To begin, change or end residential, commercial or industrial cart, bin or debris box service, contact Waste Management at 619-596-5100 or visit their website.
We want to encourage everyone who lives, works in or visits Santee to think globally and acting locally. Reduce waste first. Reuse and repair products as many times as possible, and recycle or compost the rest.
The key to generating less waste is to reduce the amount we buy or consume and reuse the products we purchase. Making the choice to consume less provides more social and environmental benefits than recycling and composting alone. Your small daily choices and habits add up! Practicing the 5 R's (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rebuy, Rot) allows YOU to send less trash to our local landfill while producing jobs, saving energy, and preserving natural resources.
The waste management hierarchy –– expresses the order of importance of these ideas:
- Reduce needless consumption and the generation of waste. When purchasing something at the store, try to buy items that have less packaging.
- Reuse any item that can be reused, or give it to a person/charity that can reuse it.
- Recycle whatever discards remain if you can and only dispose of what you must.
- Rot your food and yard waste through Composting-nature's way of recycling.
- Rethink about the waste you produce by using alternative products, considering how you can further reduce your environmental footprint, and what you can do to root out unnecessary wastefulness.
Successful recycling depends on every one of us. Waste reduction and recycling every day, at home, work and play is an easy and rewarding practice. By adopting more sustainable habits, we can reduce pollution, save resources and better help our community fight climate change.