Organics

Separating Organics

As easy as 1-2-3!

Separate, Collect, then Place Organics in the Organics Collection Cart to be collected and processed into compost.
Please watch our residential food waste/organics video to learn more.

Are you a gardener, landscaper, or contractor who generates organic waste and self-hauls your materials for disposal?

Organic Waste Self-Hauler Requirements(PDF, 5MB)

Organic Materials that Belong in Your Green Cart

Food Scraps and Food Soiled Paper

• Meats, seafood
• Dairy products
• Breads, grains, pastas
• Fruits, vegetables
• Bones, shells
• Pizza boxes
• Napkins, paper towels
• Paper-based to-go containers (without any kind of liner)

Yard Trimmings

• Flower cuttings
• Garden trimmings
• Lawn clippings
• Leaves
• Prunings 
• Shrubbery
• Tree twigs (4 feet or less in length & 6 inches in diameter) 
• Weeds
• Wood chips

How to Separate, Collect, and Empty Organics in Your Green Cart

Separate

• While preparing meals or when cleaning the refrigerator, separate food scraps and always scrape any extra food from your plate into a kitchen pail.

Collect

• Use a kitchen pail or any compostable paper container such as take-out boxes or paper bags to collect kitchen food scraps.
• Include food-soiled paper such as coffee filters, paper plates, napkins, paper towels, parchment paper, and paper take-out containers.
• Freezing food scraps or wrapping them in newspaper can prevent leaks and odors.

Empty

• Empty food scraps, food-soiled paper and plant debris into the green organics cart.

Move In, Move Out Guides

Guide for Residents of Multifamily Units
(PDF, 15MB)
Guide for Owners & Property Managers of Multifamily Units(PDF, 5MB)

Request a Kitchen Pail

Community Organics Hub

The Community Organics Hub is available to the public as an alternative for residents who do not have organics bins at their residence. The schedule of Hub locations and times are below. 

Community Organics Hub Schedule & Locations

10722 Jefferson Boulevard, Culver City (Behind Ralphs)
Tuesdays 8am - 2:30pm

11030 Jefferson Boulevard, Culver City (Behind TJ Maxx)
Wednesdays 8am - 2:30pm

3459 McManus Ave, Culver City (Syd Kronenthal Park)
2nd & 4th Wednesdays 10am - 12pm

Culver City is expanding access to community composting with the launch of a new Compost Hub at Syd Kronenthal Park, in partnership with LA Compost. Learn how composting turns food scraps into healthy, nutrient-rich soil while working alongside local community composters.

Residents can visit during open hours or sign up to volunteer for Compost Hub Support at Syd Kronenthal Park.

Reduce Wasted Food

43% of wasted food in the United States comes from households. Food is too important to throw away. By making small shifts in how you shop, prepare and store food, you can reduce food waste and save money! Wasted food refers to edible food that is not eaten. Inedible food scraps such as banana peels, apple cores and bones are not included.

Check out food-saving tips on Food: Too Good to Waste for suggestions on how to save money while reducing wasted food through proper planning and storing of materials. 

Learn the Labels

• Best By, Best if Used By, Enjoy By: Relates to peak flavor or quality, not food safety.
• Use By: Is for food that could become unsafe if not used before a certain date, such as meat, fish and dairy products. These are generally set by retailers or brands following guidance from health safety organizations. 
• Sell By: The store must sell by this date or remove them from the shelves.
  
  
  

Proper Food Storage

Depending on how you store or refrigerate certain foods you can extend or decrease shelf life of an item. For example, if potatoes and onions are stored together, the gas from the onions will cause the potatoes to sprout. Another example is cheese: in sealed plastic, it will sweat from water evaporation. For a longer shelf life, it is recommended to wrap cheese in wax paper.
Learn more about food storage.

Additional Tips to Keep Your Organics Clean and Sanitary

To ensure your countertop organics pail remains clean and functional, we recommend the following: 

• Avoid overfilling the pail. 
• Empty it every few days. 
• Rinse with soap and warm water after each emptying and allow it to air dry. 
• Freeze spoiled or smelly food items like meat, bones, and dairy, adding them to the pail only before disposal. 
• Lightly sprinkle baking soda at the bottom of the pail to help absorb odors. 
• Keep the lid closed to deter fruit flies. 
• Spray a little Castile soap on the food scraps to mitigate pests. 
• Place a dry paper towel inside the pail to absorb moisture. 
• If space permits, store the pail in the refrigerator until pickup day. 

For more information, watch this video about Culver City's Residential Food Waste Program. 

Commercial / Multi-Family

Please review the Culver City SB 1383 Commercial Brochure(PDF, 1MB) for a summary of business requirements.

Multi-Family Buildings 

Here is a video explaining the New SB 1383 Recycling Requirements in California for Multi-family Buildings.

Commercial Requirements

Below is a list of general requirements:

• Organics recycling is required for all California businesses
• Tier 1 Commercial Food Generators are now required to establish food recovery programs 
• Tier 1 Commercial Food Donors must arrange to recover the maximum amount of food that would otherwise go to landfills
• Both food recovery organizations and services that participate in SB 1383 must maintain records
  
  

Tier 1 commercial food generators such as the following businesses:

• Supermarket
• Grocery store (10,000 sq.ft.)
• Food service provider
• Food distributor
• Wholesale food vendor 
  
  

Tier 1 commercial food generators  will need to establish contracts or written agreements with food recovery organizations and will have to keep records of the following information to demonstrate compliance:

• Types of food recovered
• Pounds of food recovered
• Frequency that the food is recovered
  
  

Food donors will need to track the amount they donate by weight and maintain up-to-date records.
Records will be submitted to the City of Culver City on a quarterly basis. 


As of January 1, 2024, Tier 2 businesses (below) are required to follow SB 1383's food recovery requirements.

• Restaurant (> 250 seats or 5,000 sq.ft.) 
• Hotel with onsite food facility ( > 200 rooms)
• Health facility with onsite food facility ( > 100 beds)
• Large events and venues
• State agency with cafeteria (> 250 seats or 5,000 sq.ft.)
• Local education agency with on-site food facility
  
  

Donations

There are laws in place to protect businesses when donating food:

• California Department of Public Health: legally protects food donations. 
• The California Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (AB 1219): provides liability protections for entities that make good faith donations of food. 
• Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act: protects businesses from civil and criminal liability arising from the nature, age, packaging, or condition of apparently wholesome food or an apparently fit grocery product that the person or gleaner distributes in good faith to a non-profit organization for ultimate distribution to needy individuals. 
  
  

Common Items Donated

• Whole produce and baked goods
• Pre-packaged foods
• Food prepared by a permitted food facility.

Food Recovery Organizations and Services

Who are Food Recovery Organizations/ Services?

• Food Recovery Organization (FRO) - an entity that collection edible food from commercial edible food generators and distributes that edible food directly to the public for food recovery or through other entities.
• Food Recovery Service (FRS) - a person or entity that collects edible food from edible food from a commercial edible food generator and transports it to a food recovery organization or other entities for food recovery.

Organizations in Los Angeles County

• Food DROP LA: Provides business resources including a Food Donation Toolkit and Food Donation Tracking Form. 
• Los Angeles Food Policy Council: Food Waste Prevention & Rescue Working Group promotes strategies for food waste prevention, food recovery and donation, and composting. Includes #FreetheFood Impact Guide and Los Angeles Area Food Recovery Guide
• Los Angeles County Food Redistribution Initiative: LA County Department of Public Health site provides resources to the public about safe methods to prevent, donate, and recycle excess food.
  
  

Tips for Success: How to Make Organics Collection Work

Use Color-Coded Bins with Signage – Part of any successful organics and recycling program is setting up proper internal collection containers.  City Hall uses color-coded bins to help staff separate their organics, recycling and trash. Bins at this site are blue for recycling, green for organics, and black for trash, with itemized pictures for each. These bins can be placed strategically throughout the work space.

For examples of different recycling and composting containers view the vendor list(PDF, 659KB). 

Line containers with clear plastic bags, paper bags, or use no bag at all.

Train Employees Regularly – Monitor containers to ensure materials are included in the correct container. Common items that do not belong in the organics container are PLA items labeled “compostable”. If it looks like plastic, do not put it in the organics container. 
Provide Positive Feedback – Deskside recycling or organics containers can be reviewed for compliance. If you see staff separating items in the appropriate container, think about positive reinforcement. The City created “oops” and “awesome” tags for staff. Picture to the right shows staff with an “awesome” tag.
Work with Janitorial Services – It's important to contact janitorial services before starting an organics collection program. Their staff will be emptying the internal containers to the collection containers outside. It is important that their staff know which container is for organics, recycling and trash so the program is successful.