CalRecycle Ombudsman

The CalRecycle Ombudsman can help to clarify solid waste facility permit requirements and resolve regulatory conflicts. If you have questions or concerns about solid waste facilities, regulations, or procedures, you may contact the Ombudsman:

Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery
Public Affairs Office
1001 I Street (Mail Stop 22-B)
P.O. Box 4025
Sacramento, CA 95812-4025

Regulations

Under State law and regulations of the Office of Administrative Law, proposed regulations are made available for public review and comment. In addition to the required publication and notification procedures, CalRecycle also posts all proposed regulations on its website. Interested parties can view and download the text of proposed regulations, as well as other key rulemaking documents. From individual websites devoted to each rulemaking project, you can also submit your comments on draft regulations directly to the staff working on those regulations. Questions about specific proposed regulations should be addressed to those staff contacts.

If you are unfamiliar with the California State agency rulemaking process but want to participate in a regulations project of CalRecycle, or if you have questions or concerns about existing regulations, please ask the Ombudsman.

Petition for Adoption or Repeal

Under the provisions of Government Code 11340.6, any interested party may petition a State agency requesting the adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation. Petitions must clearly and concisely state:

  • The substance or nature of the regulation, amendment, or repeal requested.
  • The reason for the request.
  • Reference to the authority of the State agency to take the action requested.

If you wish to submit such a petition to the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), you should contact the Legal Office.

Solid Waste Facilities and Permits

If you have questions about a solid waste facility, you may find answers in the California Waste Facilities Database. This database contains information on solid waste facilities, operations, and disposal sites throughout California. You can find out about all types of facilities, including landfills, transfer stations, material recovery facilities, composting sites, transformation facilities, waste tire sites, and closed disposal sites. For each facility, the database contains information about location, owner, operator, facility type, regulatory and operational status, waste types received, and local enforcement agency.

Permits for solid waste facilities are generally issued by Local Enforcement Agencies (LEA) certified by CalRecycle. You can familiarize yourself with the structure of the permit process and the roles of CalRecycle and its LEAs in that process by viewing information in CalRecycle’s LEA Central website:

General Questions

If you have general questions on solid waste or recycling issues, we encourage you to contact us by locating the appropriate office or division. If you cannot find what you are looking for, please contact the main switchboard at (916) 322-4027 to direct you to the appropriate staff.

For more information contact, the Office of Public Affairs, opa@calrecycle.ca.gov