Recycle Organics
You can help California meet SB 1383 goals by setting up a home compost system and recycling at home, using worms to compost, or joining your neighbors and co-workers in a community composting project. One of the most powerful things you can do to help California adapt to a changing climate is to use compost and mulch produced in California to sequester carbon in the soil.
CalRecycle is helping build an organics infrastructure that will provide jobs, protect the environment, and put organic waste back to work growing food and building healthy soil.
You can learn more about CalRecycle’s investments in organics management facilities at our Organics Grant Program page.
Organic Waste Prevention at Home

Food Waste Prevention
Plan your meals for the week before you go shop-ping and buy only the items needed to prepare those meals. By making a shopping list with weekly meals in mind, you can save money and prevent food waste.

Landscape Waste Prevention
Drought tolerant and sustainable landscaping practices save water, reduce garden waste, and take less work, saving you time and money.
Compost and Mulch

What is Compost and Mulch
Learn the difference between compost and mulch and how to use these valuable soil products in your yard.

Find a Compost Facility Near You
Biocycle is the leading voice of the composting community. Find a composter near you in California or anywhere in the country.

Community-Scale Composting
Community-scale composting programs can help increase local resilience, and build sustainability awareness.

Home Composting
Mix your food waste with leaves, twigs, wood chips, saw-dust, dried/dead plants, and uncoated paper or cardboard to make a rich soil amendment in your backyard.

Vermicomposting
Vermicomposting is the practice of using worms to break down organic material, including food scraps. The resulting material is a mix of worm castings (worm manure) and decomposed food scraps.
Residential Organics Recycling Collection
To reduce methane pollution and other short-lived climate pollutants, California passed SB 1383 (Lara, 2016).
The law set targets for 2025:
- 75% less organic waste sent to landfills.
- 20% of unsold, still-edible food sent to food recovery organizations.

Publications
Increasing Soil Carbon for Climate Resiliency
Healthy soils are a critical part of the long-term sustainability of food production and can contribute to reducing greenhouse gases.
The Compost-Carbon-Climate Connection
Learn more about the connection between compost, carbon, and climate change.
Putting Cap-and-Trade Dollars to Work for California
Learn more about CalRecycle’s investments in organics management infrastructure throughout the state.