The Universal Recycling and Composting Ordinance applies to:
- Licensed retail food establishments
- Licensed commissary
- Food processing establishments
- Wholesale and warehouse establishments
The ordinance does NOT apply to:
- Mobile retail food establishments
- Pushcarts
- Food peddlers
- Temporary retail food establishments
- Food shelves
Food businesses are required to provide:
- Recycling services for customers, employees, and contractors (front-of-house and back-of-house)
- Composting services for employees and contractors (back-of-house, at minimum)
- Signage that clearly identifies each waste stream and training of employees on proper waste sorting
Who is responsible: The responsible person (or party) must ensure the business meets URCO's requirements. The person or responsible party for food waste producers and food permit holders is the:
- License holder
- For building areas or situations that don't have a license holder: building owner or any person pr business acting for the owner, including the property manager
Other ways to comply: Businesses may comply through alternative means (such as food donation, animal feed, on-site diversion, or other means), or by sharing services and costs with other businesses.
See the Full Rules and Regulations(PDF, 258KB)
In some situations, you can ask for an exemption from the URCO requirements. For example:
- Economic hardship. If paying for recycling or composting services would inhibit your business’s ability to maintain normal operations or employment levels.
- De minimis volumes of materials. If the building throws away less than:
- A medium-sized (64 gallon) cart per month of trash.
- A large-sized (96 gallon) cart per month of recyclables.
- A small-sized (48 gallon) cart per month of compost.
- Inadequacy of waste hauling services. If you have tried to set up the required waste hauling services for your business but are unable to get service because:
- No licensed waste hauler can collect your materials at your location.
- Service options don’t meet URCO’s minimum service level requirements.
- There are access or operational issues that mean a hauler can’t provide service on time.
- Space constraints. If you don’t have space to put all the containers or the only space you have isn’t safe for the hauler to access.
Exemption forms are under development and will be available in the coming weeks.
The URCO Waste Diversion Plan is a template you submit to the city showing how your food business meets recycling and composting requirements.
The Waste Diversion Plan template and a platform to submit it are under development and will be available in the coming weeks.
Use our checklist for step-by-step instructions for compliance, supporting materials, tips, and best practices.
Compliance Checklist for Food Service Providers
Sample bilingual signs. Please download the signs using the buttons below instead of saving these images.