Trash & Recycling News ArchiveCity Trash & Recycling

Simple behavior changes can greatly reduce the amount of single-use plastic we all use on a day-to-day basis. Here are some simple tips that you can do to reduce your impact:

We recently mailed out a postcard to City of Santa Barbara residents with helpful information on how to keep our community clean. If you did not receive it or would like to print your own, here are links to digital versions in English and Spanish.

Recycling tips, program changes, service delays, and other important information.

Help keep our streets clean by reporting misplaced shopping carts.

An extraordinary slate of locals are honored with the 2018 Spirit of Service Awards. Through these awards, now in their 14^th year, Looking Good Santa Barbara recognizes individuals and organizations in the community who exceed expectations by reducing waste and keeping the community clean through graffiti and litter abatement.

NEW LOCATION - EARL WARREN SHOWGROUNDS. Bring your old electronics to our next free e-waste recycling events, Friday 05/04/18 and Saturday 05/05/18 at the Earl Warren Showgrounds (Calle Real entrance). Free to all area residents and businesses.

Approximately 1,400 public trash and recycling containers in 26 different styles currently exist throughout the City of Santa Barbara. A past assessment revealed that most of the containers were weathered or are in disrepair. In 2015, the City’s Environmental Services Division addressed the needs and created a Public Container Repair and Replacement Program.

Clean up of ash is not advised while the fire is still burning and ash is falling.

If you must clean up ash, *PLEASE* DO NOT put ash directly in your trash, it must be bagged first.

What should you do with plastic bags, wrappers, peel-away food seals, and other thin-film plastics? Find out what factors prevent them from being recyclable in Santa Barbara.

Looking Good Santa Barbara would like to invite you to join us for our next Community Clean-Up event and to give your neighborhood some love! The event will take place on Saturday October 14th, 2017 from 9 am to 12 pm. Volunteers will have the opportunity to improve local neighborhoods through a variety of projects, including litter pick-up, graffiti removal, and creek clean-up. Bring your friends, family, and colleagues!

We encourage people to avoid single-use plastic bags, but locals may have a few floating around. What to do with them? The answer: we prefer you make a "bag of bags" and return them to a grocery store, or as a last resort bundle them together for your brown trash bin. Learn more about why...

All Santa Barbara residents with trash service have access to battery recycling at home. Tape the ends of the batteries, bag them up, and place them on top of your blue bin.

Four extraordinary local businesses and groups were honored with the 13th annual Spirit of Service awards on May 10th, 2017. Catholic Charities Santa Barbara, Salvation Army Hospitality House, the Mental Wellness Center, and students of Teens on the Scence were recognized for reducing waste and maintaining a clean community.

Six extraordinary local individuals and businesses were honored with the 12th annual Spirit of Service awards on May 11th, 2016. Paul Cronshaw of La Cuesta High School, Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation, Garden Court Community on De La Vina, Calvary Baptist Church of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Arts Alliance, and Keep it Clean Santa Barbara were recognized for reducing waste and maintaining a clean community.

Starting January 6^th, 2016 the statewide recycling program for used mattresses and box springs called “Bye Bye Mattress” will be launched in California.

Simple Answer: containers should be as clean as you can reasonably make them in a few seconds. Empty them out, then rinse or wipe them if you can. Oily or sticky liquids are of concern because they contaminate other items, like paper. But sparkling clean isn't necessary.

Five extraordinary local individuals and businesses were honored with the 11th annual Spirit of Service awards on May 13th, 2015. Bill Kelly of Nordstrom, Lauren Thal-Hill of Franklin School, residents Jesse Aldana and Stella Larson, and the Towbes Group, Inc., were recognized for reducing waste and maintaining a clean community.

There is a new guardian of Santa Barbara's neighborhoods. The trash monster made his debut at Earth Day and is now appearing on screens everywhere.

Every residential customer is entitled to two annual bulky item collections with an unlimited quantity of goods. E-waste is included. You must call MarBorg at 963-1852 to schedule

Milk containers? Coconut water boxes? Juice boxes? Soup containers? We want ‘em.

All these cartons - what are known as “aseptic containers” as well as anything with a gabled top -- are now accepted in your blue residential recycling carts. That includes all types of “Tetra Pak” packaging. This is true throughout the City of Santa Barbara and the South County.

On July 26^th, the City held the 11^th Annual City Clean-Up Day. 400 volunteers covered 25 City blocks, collected three tons of trash, and made a big impact on the neighborhoods they touched.