LA Sanitation & Environment Organics Program Launches Citywide
Food Scraps Now Recyclable in Green Bin Under “OrganicsLA” 

Effective  immediately, all Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment (LASAN) customers should use the green bin to dispose of all food scraps and food-soiled paper, along with their existing yard waste. This is due to California Senate Bill 1383, which  requires jurisdictions to reduce the disposal of their organic waste from landfills by 75% by 2025. 

The Board of Public Works and the LA City Council have approved the necessary contracts with the companies that will process the compostable materials for the City, enabling the program to move forward, at no cost to customers.

"We appreciate the leadership of the City for moving expeditiously to make this new program come to life,” said LASAN Executive Director and General Manager Barbara Romero.  “LASAN is committed to diverting food waste from the landfill in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create better air quality throughout Los Angeles. We have been preparing for the launch of OrganicsLA for years and are anxious for this next phase to begin."

During the summer of 2022, LASAN's curbside collection of compostable material was expanded from the initial 2019-2021 pilot program of 18,000 households to 40,000 households. Now all 750,000 LASAN residential customers are encouraged to compost their food scraps together with yard trimmings, including sticks and leaves, through the City’s curbside composting collection program.

To help residents start collecting food scraps, the City is providing 2-gal kitchen pails. These pails are available for pick-up at participating distribution sites, one pail per household, while supplies last. Residents can start making appointments to pick up their pails through the LASAN's scheduling system at www.lacitysan.org/organics with pail pickup starting on January 23, 2023. For residents who require ADA accessibility, pails can be requested for delivery.

City kitchen pails are not required to participate in the citywide composting  program. Any container of choice (e.g., bowl, paper bag, etc.), can be used to collect food scraps and empty them into your curbside composting collection bin.

Items that can go in the green bin include:

• Fruits, vegetables
• Dairy, eggshells
• Stale bread, cereal, grains, rice, pasta, beans
• Old lunch meat, steak and chicken bones, fish bones, shells
• Coffee grounds and used paper coffee filters
• Food soiled paper products (e.g., used paper napkins , soiled pizza boxes)
• Yard trimmings, flowers, and clean untreated wood

Customer Tips:
The recommended best practice is to place all compostable materials directly into the curbside composting bin. A great tip is to place a used paper napkin or paper towel at the bottom of the kitchen composting pail. The napkin will absorb moisture and help control odor.

Placing food scraps in a kitchen pail will reduce potential odors because it will isolate anything that might smell in one container. Materials that might degrade will no longer be mixed with other garbage under the kitchen sink.

Food scraps from the kitchen pail can then go into the curbside composting cart. Composting food scraps is a good green habit that helps protect the environment in multiple ways.