The replacement initiative swaps the older dark-blue recycling bins for new light-blue containers with scannable tags.

SAN DIEGO — The City of San Diego began swapping 225,000 dark blue recycling bins on Wednesday with new light blue ones.

“Having a different color makes it very clear to our drivers, which are the containers pertaining to the paying customers, and which might have been legacy containers that have accumulated on the street over the last couple of decades,” said Jeremy Bauer, Assistant Director of Environmental Services.

CBS 8 captured video of the delivery happening on Wednesday morning in Linda Vista near Tait Street off of Linda Vista Road. 

“The delivery will follow their collection routes and that may or may not be the same collection route of their neighbor across the street,” said Bauer.

He reminds customers to be patient. Mailers will be going out. You can also look up an estimated delivery date using a tool on the city’s website.

The containers feature a designated space for residents to write their address, a measure designed to prevent theft or accidental misplacement. Each bin includes a scannable tag that allows the city to track it, and printed signage indicates which materials should and should not be recycled.

“It’s really about getting data. It’s not tracking what’s in the can. It’s not tracking contents,” he said. “It’s tracking when the truck was there.”

The rollout comes as around 850 households that are ineligible for city service still have not arranged for private trash pick up. 

Bauer said fines could be issued starting at $200 every two weeks and rising to as much as $1000 every two weeks.

“However, once they get that citation, if they’re able to provide that they did find service, within a couple weeks, the citation goes away,” he said.

The rollout will continue into late summer, early fall. 

The City will collect only from the new light blue recycling bins after customers receive them. Until then, the City will continue servicing old containers to prevent service disruption. Recycling collection occurs bi-weekly currently, with a weekly recycling service beginning July 1, 2027.

The City’s Environmental Services Department will notify customers about bin delivery dates through email and mail sent to property owners. Residents can also visit sandiego.gov/trash to use the Container Delivery Lookup tool for their estimated delivery date.

The number of blue bins customers receive depends on their service-level order. Property owners who did not make a service-level selection through the online portal or by contacting Environmental Services will receive one 95-gallon recycling bin. Service-level adjustments, including size swaps or additional bin requests, will become available in the Residential Waste Collection Services Portal starting July 1, 2026. Property owners needing to order larger or additional bins sooner can call Environmental Services at 858-694-7000.Â