Oakland Recycles - Your Recycling Team

Residential Property Managers

Service Information for Apartment and Condo Property Managers
carts and bins for trash and compost collection

Mandatory Law and Requirements

To ensure a clean Oakland, every multifamily property owner or manager must provide enough trash, recycle, and compost collection service to match residents’ generation levels. For trash this can be no less than 20 gallons of trash service per unit (Oakland Municipal Code 8.28.140.) To comply State Bill 1383, multifamily properties must ensure residents have equal access to compost, recycle and trash service. SB 1383’s intent is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions resulting from landfilling organics waste and slow climate change by diverting these materials to compost or recycle. Visit the Mandatory Laws and Rules page for more details on city, county and state requirements. For SB 1383 Compliance Your Property Must:
  • Subscribe to curbside compost and recycle collection service in addition to trash.
  • Place color-coded and labeled compost and recycle containers next to all indoor trash containers (excluding restrooms)
  •  Inform tenants no later than 14 days after move-in and at least 14 days prior to move-out about the rules
  • Educate tenants, employees, and contractors, tenants about the law at least annually
  • Sort materials into the proper bins
    • Compost: Food scraps, compostable paper, and plant waste
    • Recycle: Cardboard, paper, bottles, and cans
    • Do not place trash into the compost or recycling carts or bins
We are Here to Help! Review OaklandRecycle’s Property Manager Toolkit for free resources to get your property doing the right thing for the environment and following the law. StopWaste has additional tools and resources to support you.
trash, recylcing and compost contianers

Cart Set Out Instructions

Weekly Trash, Compost & Recycle Collection

All carts or bins should be set-out curbside by 6am on the regular scheduled pickup day. Additional push rates apply to on-property services.

oil recycling at curbside

Used Motor Oil

Recycling used motor oil and filters is as easy as 1, 2, 3.

  1. Pour the used motor oil into the approved jug provided by California Waste Solutions and close the cap tightly.
  2. Put the filter into the approved zip tight bag, provided by California Waste Solutions or place it into a zip close plastic bag.
  3. For pick up place the jug and bag at the curb next to your recycle cart or bin on your scheduled pick up day.

If you don’t have an approved used motor oil jug and filter bag call California Waste Solutions at (510) 625-5263 Oakland or email OaklandCS@calwaste.com

battery recycling at curb side

Household Battery Recycling

For non-household batteries refer to the Household Hazardous Waste section.

Facilitate battery recycling at your building by labeling a bucket or box with “battery recycling”.  Put the labeled container in your trash room or mail room and notify residents that they can bring ONLY Household Dry-Cell Batteries such as: Alkaline, Button Cell, Ni-Cadmium Batteries.  When the container is full, empty batteries into a clear plastic bag and place the sealed bag on top of your recycle container on your regular pickup date.

HAZARD WARNING 

  • Disposing of the batteries incorrectly can cause injuries or fire hazards.
  • Consumer batteries can short-circuit if their ends come in contact with one another. Place button-cell and NiCadmium batteries in separate, clear zip-lock plastic bags and tape ends of batteries to avoid contact.
bulky items at curb

Bulky Junk Service for Apartments & Condos

Each multifamily property is entitled to up to 4 cubic yards of curbside bulky collection service per unit, plus additional volume of specific bulky recyclable items annually. Tenants can schedule curbside bulky pickup by contacting Waste Management of Alameda County (WMAC) directly and without going through their property managers. Additionally, tenants may schedule appointments to drop-off up to 4 cubic yards of bulky items at the Davis Street Resource Recovery Complex in San Leandro. Tenants can call WMAC at 1-888-WM-BULKY to schedule a curbside bulky pickup or a bulky drop-off appointment. Each unit can receive one bulky curbside pickup and one bulky drop-off appointment each calendar year. Property managers may continue to schedule bulky pickup service on behalf of the property.  

Visit the Property Managers Bulky Junk Service page for more details and helpful tools for you and your tenants. It is a best practice to share information about both bulky junk services during tenant move in and move out as well as annually with all tenants.  

hazardous waste, paint, monitors, computers

Household Hazardous Waste

HHW never belongs in any of the curbside carts. Take fluorescent bulbs, paints, stains, solvents, thinners, adhesives, pesticides, cleaners, household garden and auto chemicals, spray cans, batteries and electronic waste to the Household Hazardous Waste Facility at 2100 East 7th Street, Oakland. Drop offs are limited to 15 gallons/125 pounds per vehicle. Call (800) 606-6606 for days and hours of operation. Visit household-hazwaste.org or call (800) 606-6606.

recyclable items: glass, plastic, boxes, paper, cans

Recycle Right and Avoid Surcharges

Surcharges may apply when the wrong materials are found in compost or recycle carts/bins. Residents will be notified after each incident.

Only place acceptable items in the recycle and composting carts/bins as shown on the container labels. Anything else is considered a contaminant. Contaminants can ruin an entire load of materials meant for recycling or composting. The service provider may refuse to collect containers with the wrong material inside and may apply contamination surcharges if the container is picked up. See below for when surcharges may apply.

On 3rd and 4th incident surcharge of $25 may apply. On 5th incident surcharge of $50 may apply.
trash cart can not be overfilled

Avoid Overage Charges

Materials must fit inside a container with the lid closed for regular service.

Eliminate excess materials by:

  • Placing all recyclables into the recycling container.
  • Placing all food scraps, food-soiled paper and other organics into the Compost container.
  • Having enough bins or pickups to manage all the waste you generate.
  • Making sure the containers work properly – call for repair if needed.
  • Setting out bins just ahead of pickup when possible.

If you regularly have excess materials, we’re here to help you.

Call the Customer Service at (510) 613-8700 to help you right-size your service.

Trash Cart Overage Charge = $1.26 per gallon

carts and bins for trash and compost collection

Unlimited Recycle and Compost Weekly Service

If the property is generating more recyclables (which are free of contamination like trash, food waste, liquids, plastic bags, hazardous waste) at no additional cost customers may obtain additional recycle material capacity through the default frequency of one (1) time per week recycle service. Property owners or managers may request additional a larger cart/bins. 

Holiday Schedule

There is no trash, compost or recycle collection on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day or New Year’s Day. During years when these holidays fall on a weekday, pickup is one day later for the rest of the week, including Saturday. For example, if your regular service day is Tuesday service will occur on Wednesday, or if your regular service day is Friday service will occur on Saturday.

Trash, compost and recycle collection schedules are not affected by any other holidays.

holiday tree

Free Holiday Tree Recycling Pickup

Convenient and free pickup of holiday trees takes place on your regularly scheduled compost service day, from the first workday after December 25th through the end of the second work week in January. Cut taller trees to 4 feet or less – no flocking, ornaments or stands – and place curbside.

All residences in Oakland, including apartments and condos receive this service. Please note that a separate collection vehicle may pick up the trees.

WM offers two options for assisting residents to properly recycle their tree.

  • 5-99 Units: Tenants may place trees curbside.
  • 100+ Units: Call customer service 510-613-8710 to order a roll off box to collect trees.

Property managers are responsible for communicating to residents which of the two options of tree recycling will occur. Visit the holiday page for more instructions, including ready-made instructional fliers for your residents. 

cart sizes

Service Level Changes

To order additional compost or recycling containers, or to change Trash service level, contact your service providers:

  • Trash & Compost – Waste Management of Alameda County, Inc. – 510-613-8710
  • Recycle – California Waste Solutions – 510-OAKLAND
  • See all cart and container sizes

Cart Sizes

  • 20-gallon cart
    (23.5″ x 19.75″ x 34.5″)
  • 32-gallon cart
    (23.75″ x 19″ x 37.5″)
  • 64-gallon cart
    (27″ x 24″ x 41.5″)
  • 96-gallon cart
    (34.5″ x 26″ x 45″)

Container Sizes

  • 1 cubic yard container
    (32″ x 81″ x 37″)
  • 1.5 cubic yard container
    (37″ x 81″ x 44″)
  • 2 cubic yard container
    (36″ x 81″ x 51″)
  • 3 cubic yard container
    (48″ x 81″ x 60″)
  • 4 cubic yard container
    (58″ x 81″ x 67″)
  • 6 cubic yard container
    (70″ x 81″ x 72″)
  • 7 cubic yard container
    (75″ x 81″ x 77″)
invoice

Service Rates

5+ Unit Apartments & Condos (July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023)

Use the Sample Minimum Trash Container Combinations Table (2022-23) to find the cost of various container combinations that would meet your building’s service level needs.

Order Free Tools and Resources 

Make sure you and your residents have the tools and information to recycle right.  Download a Property Manager Recycling Services Kit.

Go to the Free Tools and Resources Page.

Get Free Technical Assistance

Need help assessing your service needs (trash, recycling and compost collection) or the placement of collection containers for optimum participation?

Contact customer service:

  • Recycle – Contact California Waste Solutions or call (510) 625-5263
  • Trash & Compost – Contact Waste Management of Alameda County, Inc. or call (510) 613-8710

Sign Up for Service

Sign up for service with Waste Management of Alameda County, Inc. Under State of California law AB 341, multifamily properties with 5 or more units must provide recycling service for residents. Alameda County Waste Management Authority requires all multifamily properties to provide accessible organics collection for compostable materials.