Can I get fined for stuffing my SLO County trash can? Sorting wrong? See rules
Is your garbage bill not adding up? You may be getting charged extra fees for disposing of trash improperly.
Companies across San Luis Obispo County collect trash, recycling and organic waste on a regular basis.
Each waste collection service has its own set of rules, and you could face fines or other penalties for not following them.
Common reasons for extra charges include stuffing garbage bins to full, piling extra bags on the curb and tossing trash in the wrong container.
Here’s what SLO County residents need to know:
Who picks up my trash in SLO? Morro Bay or Paso Robles?
The city of San Luis Obispo partners with San Luis Garbage, a subsidiary of Waste Connections, to handle garbage, recycling and organic waste collection.
The city of Morro Bay partners with another Waste Connections subsidiary, Morro Bay Garbage, for trash collection.
Waste Connection also operates South County Sanitary and Mission Country Disposal, which handle garbage pickup in other parts of the county.
Paso Robles Waste & Recycle is the sole franchise collection company in the city of Paso Robles.
Waste Management handles trash, recycling and organic waste disposal in Atascadero, Templeton and other North County towns.
San Miguel Garbage covers waste removal services in part of North County.
Can I get fined for overfilling my SLO garbage can?
In much of San Luis Obispo County, you can face fines for overfilling your waste containers or leaving extra garbage outside the bins.
According to Waste Connections, truck drivers won’t haul away bins that are too full or incorrectly sorted.
You’ll also get a notice from the company explaining why your trash was not collected.
“Repeat contamination or overfilling may result in fines,” the city said on its website.
San Luis Garbage fines customers $12.19 per overfilled can or extra bag of trash. You’ll be charged $14.34 for loose cardboard left outside your recycling bin.
Morro Bay Garbage charges extra collection fees of $8 to $16 for extra bags or over-stuffed bins. Loose cardboard result in an additional charge of $13.65.
South County Sanitary charges $4 to $10 for having too much trash, while Mission Country Disposal fines customers $4 to $24 for extra garbage and $18 to $26 for loose cardboard.
Can I get charged for a trash bin that won’t close?
Waste Management said its account holders can face fines for trash containers that don’t close.
“Generating more waste than expected can cause an overage and an overage charge of $5 per overloaded container per incident,” the waste collection company said.
Waste Management also charges customers extra for garbage piled on top or beside containers.
Paso Robles Waste and Recycle customers also risk additional charges if their garbage can lids won’t close.
The company charges $6.24 per box or bag of extra trash, with the same fine for overloaded waste containers.
“If your container is overfull, the driver will empty it after taking a picture and add the extra charge to your account,” Paso Robles Waste & Recycle said on its website.
What’s the penalty for throwing garbage in my recycling bin?
Contaminating waste containers can result in big fines for customers.
That could mean throwing garbage away in your recycling bin or aluminum cans in your organic waste container.
San Luis Garbage charges customers an extra $13.36 for mixing up bins, while Waste Management charges $5 each time a customer tosses garbage in with recycling.
“Recycling contamination happens when trash ruins otherwise good recyclables,” Waste Management said.
As of Friday, April 3, it wasn’t clear how much Morro Bay Garbage, South County Sanitary and Mission Country Disposal charge for contaminated trash.
San Miguel Garbage general manager Aaron Kardashian said that customers who fail to sort trash correctly won’t be fined.
If garbage winds up in the recycling bin, the North County waste removal company notifies customers that it’s “contaminated.”
Customers then have the option of separating waste into the correct containers themselves or having the company pick up the extra trash for a $5 fee.
“There are no fines for trash, only education at this time,” Kardashian said.
What are other reasons I could face extra charges?
SLO County residents can face extra charges for a variety of reasons, including starting trash collection, resuming service and failing to wheel their cans out to the street curb.
Most waste removal companies charge extra to haul away items including appliances, TVs, toilets, tires and mattresses.
.jpg "Comingled REC feeding MRF (1).jpg")
How much trash gets contaminated in SLO County?
The Integrated Waste Management Authority of San Luis Obispo County routinely checks whether trash is sorted in the correct bins.
In 2025, a local team performed 48 route reviews at a total of 2,376 addresses.
“Route reviews are our way of monitoring what people are throwing away at the household level, and how we need to target our efforts to increase diversion,” the waste management authority said in its 2025 Year in Review report. “Our team goes from bin to bin, inspecting the top layer of its contents to survey if there are contaminants.”
In 2025, about 41% of recycling was contaminated, the report said, compared to 29% of trash and 7% of organic waste.
However, contamination rates were lower than the previous year, according to the waste management authority.
