Different companies serve different residential areas. Click on the link below for a list of the cities and portions of the Unincorporated Area, and the companies who provide garbage and recycling services for each.
No garbage, recycling or yard waste trucks on your street before 6:00 AM or after 6:00 PM
Prompt, thorough, lawful, neat, professional service
Missed pickups collected within 24 hours of your call to report it
Helpful and courteous customer service available between 8:00 AM and 4:30 PM Monday to Friday
A customer newsletter delivered to you at least 3 times per year
If you have a service complaint that you have not been able to resolve with your garbage company, call your city. Unincorporated area residents, call the County at 408-282-3180 or email: Reduce.Waste@pln.co.santa-clara.ca.us
5. My trash or my recycling wasn't collected today. What should I do?
Call your garbage service customer service number. A missed pickup should be collected within 24 hours (on the next business day) of your report that service was missed. If you cannot resolve your service problem with the garbage company, call your City or the County for the unincorporated area.
A number of landfills and transfer stations in Santa Clara County accept waste from residents. Disposal fees are based on the amount (weight) of waste, with separate charges for certain items, such as water heaters, refrigerators, mattresses, and tires. Landfills DO NOT accept hazardous wastes.
Illegal dumping is placing refuse, garbage, waste, or debris of any kind on any property not owned by the person placing the material at that property. Illegal dumping is punishable by fine or imprisonment.
Write down the license number, a description of the vehicle and person dumping illegally, the date and time of the occurrence and call your local police NON-emergency dispatcher.
9. What do I do if I see scavengers taking recyclables?
Write down the license number, a description of the vehicle and person scavenging, the date and time of the occurrence and call your local police NON-emergency dispatcher.
Sale of the recyclable materials collected by your collection company helps to pay for the services you receive. Theft of these materials impacts your cost of service. City and County ordinances specify that recyclable materials are the property of the municipality once they are set at the curb by single family residents or placed in cooperative collection containers by multi-family residents. Violation of these ordinances is a misdemeanor and is punishable by fine or imprisonment.
Yes. The County of Santa Clara recycles the latex paint that is collected at the HHW (Household Hazardous Waste) and BOP (Battery, Oil, and Paint) locations.
Car batteries are highly toxic and should be handled as a hazardous waste. There are a number of options available for the safe disposal and recycling of car batteries. When you buy a new battery, the store should be willing to take your old battery (make sure to ask them about it if they don't mention it first). In some cases they will actually pay you for it. Used automotive batteries are accepted by your city's HHW program.
14. Why aren't tires acceptable for disposal at curbside or at clean up events?
State regulations prohibit tires from being disposed in landfills. When garbage trucks or debris boxes contain tires in with garbage, the landfill operator charges a special fee for each tire because they must be separated from the rest of the garbage for processing and disposal.
The best alternative for disposal is to leave the old tires with the company that sells you new tires. There is usually a small tire disposal fee charged per tire. If that isn't an option, call a transfer station or landfill. Call first for hours of operation and disposal cost.
15. Where can I recycle this, that, and the other thing? (My old pool cover? My old refrigerator? My old stove? Or ?)
Santa Clara County has over 200 recycling centers that accept a wide variety of items. To find the appropriate recycling center nearest you, call the County Recycling Hotline at 1-800-533-8414.
16. What do I do with electronic equipment (TV's, VCR's, cellular phones, etc.) when I no longer want it?
You have choices:
If it is in good working condition, you may be able to donate it to a charitable organization - look in the yellow pages under Social Service Organizations.
Is it worth repair?
Check with a retail electronic shop about repair of your broken electronic equipment. Ask for an estimate to make sure the equipment is worth the cost of repair. When you buy a replacement, ask the retail store to take your old item.
Santa Clara County has over 200 recycling centers that accept a wide variety of products. To find the appropriate recycling center nearest you, call the County Recycling Hotline at 1-800-533-8414
Plastic (PET) from soft drink bottles is processed and made into carpeting, automotive/electrical components, fiberfill for pillows and comforters, soda bottles, and plastic pellets for remanufacture.
Plastic (HDPE) from milk jugs is processed and made into detergent and motor oil bottles, garbage cans, park benches, speed bumps, and plastic pellets for remanufacture.
Yes, steel as well as any other type of metal cans are acceptable for curbside collection. Please rinse the cans, but it is not necessary to remove the labels.
Although in theory everything can be recycled, in practice it is too costly to recycle some items and some types of wastes. Some items and wastes have so little value that there is no market for them; some are made of mixed materials that are difficult and/or costly to separate into clean materials for use in manufacturing new products; some are too costly to take to market. Recyclability depends on demand for the waste material for use in new products; value of the raw material; cost of collection, transportation, and processing; and value of the new product made with that material.
You can take other actions to reduce waste and increase recycling. You can reduce the amount of waste that you produce at home and at work. You can prevent waste by replacing disposable materials and products with reusable materials and products; by reducing packaging; by reducing the amount of yard wastes requiring handling by composting them at home; and using resources, such as paper, cardboard, and plastic, more efficiently.
You can reuse items instead of discarding them by choosing products designed to be used over and over again, instead of using those intended to be used once and discarded. Easy choices, such as avoiding use of paper and plastic tableware, make a big difference. Used clothing, furniture, and housewares can be donated to charitable organizations or sold at garage or rummage sales. Cardboard boxes and other packaging material can be reused both at home and at the office; cloth towels and napkins can replace paper goods.
22. What can I do with bulky goods (like an overstuffed chair, a mattress, a sofa) and appliances?
Bulky goods is the term for items which are sturdy, large, awkward and typically won't fit into a standard garbage can, including furniture such as sofas and chairs as well as large appliances such as refrigerators, water heaters, and microwave ovens. The nature of items in the bulky goods category makes them difficult to recycle and/or dispose. Municipal programs to collect them are costly, even when some of the costs can be offset by sale of recyclable or reusable components. When buying large furniture or appliances, especially if they are delivered to your home, the company will often agree to take back whatever is being replaced. They may not tell you unless you ask; so be sure to ask!
If the item is in good, usable condition, you can donate it to a charitable organization (look in the yellow pages under Social Service Organizations) or, you can sell it at a garage sale.
You can call your garbage company to request a special pick up of your bulky items. Be sure to ask how many items can be picked up for the minimum charge and find out if there are any special programs for disposal of bulky items that are available to you.
There are various recycling centers throughout the county that accept bulky goods for a fee; contact the Recycling Hotline at (800) 533-8414 for more information.
23. Is the cap on a recyclable plastic bottle also recyclable?
No, the cap is not recyclable for two reasons. First, the cap is made of a different plastic than the bottle and the cap's plastic is usually one of the ones that isn't recycled at all because there is no market for it. Furthermore, this means that the two plastics must be separated before the recycling process begins because the different types of plastic are incompatible with each other and would cause potentially ruinous contamination if mixed.
Secondly, if you look closely at the inside of the cap, you will see a thin film of clear plastic stretched over the harder plastic, which is used to provide a good seal when the cap is tightened on the bottle. Again, these are incompatible plastics and would also be difficult to separate efficiently.
When plastic bottles are processed for recycling, laborers have to make sure the cap is separated and thrown away (and the collar, too). Overall recycling costs would be reduced if all consumers removed the caps before recycling the bottles.
24. Why don't manufacturers of plastic containers make their caps out of the same type of plastic as the containers?
Manufacturers choose which of the seven primary types of plastic they want to use for each of their products based on the characteristics of each type of plastic and the use for which the product is intended. For example, most plastic beverage containers are transparent because people like to see what is inside, but not all plastics can be made transparent. And while it may be necessary or at least acceptable for the main container of a beverage to be a soft plastic, it would cause problems if the cap was also soft because it would soon wear down from repeated use and start leaking--a development which would rapidly cause customers to switch brands. When designing containers and choosing the plastic type, manufacturers are usually interested in only a few specific concerns primarily cost per unit, durability, marketability, and whether the material can be safely used with the product it will be containing. Recyclability is a secondary concern for most manufacturers, unfortunately, unless they perceive it as a potential marketing advantage.
Manufacturers choose which of the seven primary types of plastic they want to use for each of their products based on the characteristics of each type of plastic and the use for which the product is intended. For example, most plastic beverage containers are transparent because people like to see what is inside, but not all plastics can be made transparent. And while it may be necessary or at least acceptable for the main container of a beverage to be a soft plastic, it would cause problems if the cap was also soft because it would soon wear down from repeated use and start leaking--a development which would rapidly cause customers to switch brands.
When designing containers and choosing the plastic type, manufacturers are usually interested in only a few specific concerns primarily cost per unit, durability, marketability, and whether the material can be safely used with the product it will be containing. Recyclability is a secondary concern for most manufacturers, unfortunately, unless they perceive it as a potential marketing advantage.
All Santa Clara County residents can call (408) 918-4640 or email the Home Composting Education Rotline:
compost@pln.sccgov.org to sign up for a composting workshop or for information on purchasing a home composting bin.
A compost bin can help you recycle your yard trimmings and kitchen scraps at home. The Home Composting Education Program has a limited quantity of Earth Machine home composting bins for purchase at only $37.50 each (tax included). Call (408) 918-4640 to make an appointment to purchase. Cash or checks accepted. Pick the bin up from the County of Santa Clara Service Center, 1553 Berger Drive, San Jose.
The bin is made of high density polyethylene with U.V. stabilizers, made with 50% recycled materials. The Earth Machine will fit into an automobile for easy transportation, it comes packaged in two halves (no corrugated cardboard packaging) which nest inside of each other. There is a 10-year warranty.
Unit dimensions are 33" x 33" when assembled. Unit weight is 15#. The product features an easy, snap-together assembly, enclosed design, locking lid, and a sliding door to make it easy to harvest finished compost.
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