Beverly Hills commercial properties and apartment buildings with five or more units will get separate bins for organics, recyclables and trash starting in October 2026.
The city and its franchise hauler, Athens Services, announced the mandatory three-stream collection system on the city's website Monday, Oct. 5. The change is required under California Senate Bill 1383 (SB 1383), a state law aimed at cutting organic waste sent to landfills.
The shift does not affect single-family homes or smaller multifamily buildings with two to four units. The city's Public Works Department serves those properties, which already use a two-stream system with a green organics cart and a black mixed-waste cart, according to the city's solid waste operations page.
What changes for property owners
Under the new setup, food scraps, greasy paper products and yard waste go in a dedicated organics bin. Recyclables and trash each get their own container.
Athens Services recycling coordinators will visit affected properties to review current service, assess space for new containers, set the right service level and train staff and tenants on sorting. The city urged property owners to work with Athens to "right-size" their containers during the transition.
Owners also carry obligations under the city's SB 1383 ordinance, adopted in January 2022. They must place organics recycling containers with green lids or green bodies near every trash container except in restrooms. They must give tenants and employees annual sorting education and inform new tenants within 14 days of move-in.
Large food generators face one more rule. Supermarkets over 10,000 square feet, large restaurants and hotels must donate excess edible food through the city's Edible Food Recovery Program.
How to prepare
Transition resources, including a sorting guide and a transition letter, are available in English, Spanish and Farsi on the city's SB 1383 page. The Beverly Hills Public Works Commission received a briefing on the rollout and a related solid waste cost-of-service study on July 9.
The city has not announced a next public meeting on the rollout. Property owners and businesses with questions can contact the askBH team at [email protected] or 310-285-1000, Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
