Redwood City Municipal Code Art. I In General

Footnotes:

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Editor's note— Ord. No. 2555, § 3(Exh. A), adopted Nov. 24, 2025, repealed the former Art. I, §§ 14.1—14.10, and enacted a new Art. I as set out herein. The former Art. I pertained to similar subject matter, and derived from Ord. No. 156, § 1; Ord. No. 339, §§ 1, 2; Ord. No. 864, §§ 1, 2; Ord. No. 2169, § 1, adopted July 26, 1999; Ord. No. 2347, § 1, adopted Sept. 14, 2009; and Ord. No. 2363, § 1, adopted Mar. 7, 2011.

For the purposes of this Chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this Section:

GARBAGE: Shall mean and include all putrescible and non-putrescible solid, semisolid, and liquid wastes, including trash, refuse, rubbish, ashes, industrial wastes, demolition and construction wastes, discarded home and industrial appliances, dewatered, treated or chemically fixed sewage sludge which is not hazardous waste, manure, animal solid and semisolid wastes, and other discarded solid and semisolid wastes as defined in California Public Resources Code section 40191, as that section may be amended from time to time. "Garbage" shall not include abandoned vehicles, hazardous waste, or recyclables.

HEALTH OFFICER: Shall mean the Public Works Services Director, or their designee.

MAXIMUM RATES: Shall mean the highest rates that a Refuse Collector may charge customers for a particular service, as approved by resolution of the City Council.

ORGANIC MATERIALS: Shall mean solid waste containing material originated from living organisms and their metabolic waste products including, but not limited to, food, green material, landscape and pruning waste, organic textiles and carpets, lumber, wood, paper products, printing and writing paper, manure, biosolids, digestate, sludge, and any other material defined as "organic waste" in 14 CCR Section 18982 as it may be updated from time to time.

RECYCLABLES: Shall mean non-hazardous residential, commercial, or industrial materials or by-products which are set aside, handled, packaged, or offered for collection in a manner different than garbage, including, but not limited to, paper (newspaper, magazines, corrugated cardboard, Kraft paper, ledger paper, computer printout, box board, and other paper grades); glass; ferrous and nonferrous metal materials; plastic containers, packaging materials and scrap; and construction and demolition materials.

RECYCLING: Shall mean the process of collecting, sorting, cleansing, treating, and reconstituting materials that would otherwise become solid waste, and returning them to the economic mainstream in the form of raw materials for new, reused, or reconstituted products which meet the quality standards necessary to be used in the marketplace. Recycling does not include transformation as defined in Public Resources Code Section 40201.

REFUSE: Shall mean and be held to include all types of waste materials such as defined herein under the heading of "garbage," "organic materials," "recyclables," "rubbish," "solid waste," and "waste matter."

REFUSE COLLECTOR: Any person or entity with whom the City shall have duly contracted, under the terms of this Chapter, to collect and transport refuse through the streets, alleys or public ways of the City.

RUBBISH: Shall mean and be held to include pasteboard boxes, rags, straw, sawdust, packing material, shavings, and all other combustible material.

SELF-HAUL: Shall refer to a generator who transports solid waste they have generated to a permitted solid waste processing facility using the generator's own vehicles, equipment, and employees. Self-hauler also includes a generator who back-hauls, a landscaper, or as otherwise defined in 14 CCR Section 18982(a)(66).

SOLID WASTE: Shall mean "garbage."

WASTE MATTER: Shall mean and be held to include crockery, ashes, shells, plaster, brickbats and all other noncombustible materials.

(Ord. No. 2555, § 3(Exh. A), 11-24-25)

A. All occupied premises within the limits of the City shall have refuse service as specified in this Chapter and for the service a charge shall be collected in accordance with Section 14.31 of this Chapter, except as otherwise specified in subsection (B).

B. Any person desiring a waiver from all or part of the requirement to have refuse service as specified in this Chapter may make an application to the City's Health Officer (or their designee) indicating the reasons for such a waiver.

1. The City's Health Officer may grant such waiver if the Health Officer finds that the proper sanitation of the City and the preservation of the health of the inhabitants thereof will not be affected by the waiver.

2. A waiver may only be granted for organics materials and recyclables if the person can demonstrate that they are diverting those materials in another manner that is consistent with State statutes and regulations.

3. After reviewing the waiver application, and after an on-site review, if applicable, the City's Health Officer may approve or deny a waiver for part or all of the collection service requirements.

4. Any interested person may appeal the determination of the City's Health Officer by filing a written appeal within seventy-two (72) hours or two (2) City working days, whichever is longer, with the City Manager or their designated representative, who shall set the appeal for hearing within forty-eight (48) hours. After holding a hearing, the City Manager may reverse, affirm or modify in any respect the determination of the Health Officer. The City Manager's decision on the appeal is final.

(Ord. No. 2555, § 3(Exh. A), 11-24-25)

The Health Officer or other duly authorized representative of the City may visit all premises within the City from time to time and examine the sanitary conditions of the premises and determine whether the provisions of this Chapter are complied with.

(Ord. No. 2555, § 3(Exh. A), 11-24-25)

No person owning or occupying any building, lot or premises in the City shall suffer, allow or permit to collect and remain upon the lot or premises refuse of any kind; providing, however, that this provision shall not be construed as interfering with a building under construction.

(Ord. No. 2555, § 3(Exh. A), 11-24-25)

No person shall dump, place or bury in any lot, land, street or alley, or in any water or waterway or elsewhere within the City any refuse or any waste matter condemned by the Health Department or its authorized representatives.

(Ord. No. 2555, § 3(Exh. A), 11-24-25)

No person shall burn any rubbish within the City except by written permit from the Fire Marshal and then only in an incinerator of a type approved by the Fire Marshal, on days other than Monday, between the hours of six o'clock (6:00) A.M. and twelve o'clock (12:00) noon, or as specified in the permit. In no event, however, shall any rubbish be burned in a manner, time, or place, which constitutes a nuisance or fire hazard to adjoining property.

(Ord. No. 2555, § 3(Exh. A), 11-24-25)

It shall be unlawful for any person owning or having control of any building, lot or premises in the City, fronting on any improved street where cement sidewalks or cement curbs are laid, either as owner, lessee, tenants or tenant, to allow upon any part of the entire width of the walk area along the building, lot or premises, from curb to property line, any grass, weeds, dirt, rubbish or other obstructions, which, from any cause whatever, shall have accumulated or shall accumulate, or grow upon the sidewalk area, to remain thereon; provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to require the removal from the borders of any sidewalk, any lawn, ornamental plants or low shrubs or trees of any reasonable growth; provided, that the same are not in any manner obstructing the free use of the sidewalk by the public.

(Ord. No. 2555, § 3(Exh. A), 11-24-25)

Unless otherwise specifically provided herein, upon notification by the Health Officer or his representative, all persons shall comply with the provisions of this Chapter or be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

(Ord. No. 2555, § 3(Exh. A), 11-24-25)