If you live in Sacramento, you could have your trash inspected this month. The city’s checking to see what’s in your curbside garbage, mixed recycling, and organic waste containers. KCRA 3’s Cecil Hannibal explains why. The city says it is required by state law to do these inspections. Well, the goal is to make sure organic waste ends up in the right bin and not in the landfill. Before you roll out your bins. Just know your garbage, mixed recycling, and organic waste containers could be inspected. Yeah, we won’t be touching any of the contents, just giving *** visual. The city of Sacramento will have crews checking containers across the city to track if residents are sorting properly. We conducted the same reviews last June and we found high contamination levels of, you know, issues like plastic bags in the recycling, uh, garbage in the organics. Jessie David says it’s to be in compliance with SB 1383, *** state law that requires local jurisdictions to make efforts to reduce methane emissions, specifically caused by organic waste ending up in landfills. But residents won’t face any fines, just feedback. Uh, any container that we touch will either give *** great job tag or *** let’s sort this out tag, but either way, we want to provide education and make sure everyone knows the resources that they have available to sort their waste correctly. And if you think it’s *** waste of time, not sorting properly not only hurts the environment, but could even waste your tax dollars. When you sort your waste incorrectly, it does cost us. More to dispose of it. Now there’s *** lot of households here in the capital city. The city says it has over 135,000 customers. Of that, 4800 will be *** part of this inspection. It’ll last from now until September. In Sacramento, Cecil Hannibal, KCRA 3 News. Staff will be wearing high visibility vests and badges for identification. They’ll open the lid and look inside, possibly take *** picture, but they will not remove any.
Sacramento will inspect resident’s waste bins to be in compliance with state law
Sacramento residents may have their waste bins inspected as part of a city effort to comply with state law and reduce methane emissions
Updated: 6:21 PM PDT Jul 13, 2026
Sacramento residents may have their trash, mixed recycling, and organic waste bins inspected this month as part of a city effort to comply with state law and reduce methane emissions caused by organic waste in landfills. The city says the inspections are required under SB 1383, a state law mandating local jurisdictions to take steps to reduce methane emissions caused by short-lived climate pollutants. Crews will check containers across Sacramento to track whether residents are sorting their organic waste properly. “We conducted the same reviews last June, and we found high contamination levels of, you know, issues like plastic bags in recycling, garbage in the organics,” said Jesa David, a city representative. Residents will not face fines for improper sorting but will receive feedback. “Any container that we touch will either get a ‘great job’ tag or a ‘let’s sort this out’ tag,” David said. “But either way, we want to provide education and make sure everyone knows the resources that they have available to sort their waste correctly.” David also highlighted the financial impact of improper sorting. “When you sort your waste incorrectly, it does cost us more to dispose of it,” she said. The city serves over 130,000 customers, and 4,800 households will be included in the inspections, which will continue through September. Crews will wear high-visibility vests and badges for identification. They will open bin lids, look inside, and may take photos, but they will not remove any items.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Sacramento residents may have their trash, mixed recycling, and organic waste bins inspected this month as part of a city effort to comply with state law and reduce methane emissions caused by organic waste in landfills.
The city says the inspections are required under SB 1383, a state law mandating local jurisdictions to take steps to reduce methane emissions caused by short-lived climate pollutants.
Crews will check containers across Sacramento to track whether residents are sorting their organic waste properly.
“We conducted the same reviews last June, and we found high contamination levels of, you know, issues like plastic bags in recycling, garbage in the organics,” said Jesa David, a city representative.
Residents will not face fines for improper sorting but will receive feedback.
“Any container that we touch will either get a ‘great job’ tag or a ‘let’s sort this out’ tag,” David said. “But either way, we want to provide education and make sure everyone knows the resources that they have available to sort their waste correctly.”
David also highlighted the financial impact of improper sorting.
“When you sort your waste incorrectly, it does cost us more to dispose of it,” she said.
The city serves over 130,000 customers, and 4,800 households will be included in the inspections, which will continue through September.
Crews will wear high-visibility vests and badges for identification. They will open bin lids, look inside, and may take photos, but they will not remove any items.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel