# What You Cannot Put in the Trash in California

URL: https://thejunkiez.com/what-cannot-go-in-trash-california/
Summary: A complete list of what California bans from household bins, why, and where each item goes instead.
Contact: 323-547-5879 — info@thejunkiez.com
Last updated: 2026-08-28

**California bans a specific list of items from household rubbish: electronics, batteries, fluorescent lamps, mercury thermostats, paint, motor oil, pesticides, pool chemicals, propane tanks, mattresses in most areas, medical sharps, and tires.** Everything on that list has a free or low-cost route that is not the bin.

### Universal waste — the biggest category

California’s universal waste rules cover items that are hazardous but common enough in households that a simplified handling route makes sense:

- **Electronics** — televisions, monitors, computers, phones, printers

- **Batteries** — every kind, including the AAs in your drawer

- **Fluorescent tubes and CFL bulbs** — they contain mercury

- **Mercury thermostats and thermometers**

- **Electronic devices with circuit boards**

All of it goes to a county household hazardous waste facility, free for residents in LA, Orange and San Diego counties.

### Household hazardous waste

Paint, solvents, motor oil, antifreeze, pesticides, herbicides, pool chemicals and cleaning chemicals. Same destination — the county facilities take all of it free.

Motor oil has an easier route: most auto parts stores accept used oil and filters free, because they are required to.

### The awkward ones

- **Propane tanks.** Pressurised vessels. Even “empty” ones retain vapour and are a real explosion risk in a compactor. Exchange programmes and county facilities take them.

- **Mattresses.** Banned from most landfill disposal in California. The state recycling programme funds free drop-off at participating sites.

- **Medical sharps.** Regulated separately. Many pharmacies and county programmes accept them in approved containers.

- **Ammunition and flares.** These go to your local law enforcement agency. Not the county, not a hauler.

### Organics, which is newer

California’s SB 1383 requires organic waste — food scraps and green waste — to be diverted from landfill, because decomposing organics generate methane. Most California residents now have a separate organics bin. Green waste in the general bin is increasingly not just wasteful but non-compliant.

### What this means for a cleanout

No junk removal company can legally take anything on the hazardous list in a standard truck. On a garage or estate cleanout, set those items in one corner before we arrive. We will take everything else, and tell you where the rest goes.