San Diego is releasing a new batch of trash and recycling bins equipped with RFID (radio frequency identification) tags as part of its shift to a fee-based trash pickup system for single-family homes.
The RFID chips are already embedded in the city’s green bins for organic waste. Now, they’ll be included in the new black and blue bins as well. The city plans to assign each chip to a specific address and use that information to record when and where the bin is picked up.
The chips do not record or send live location data. Instead, they transmit a unique identifier to RFID readers on garbage trucks. When a truck lifts and empties the container, the chip communicates with the reader to log the time and date of collection. This information will be stored in a database, similar to the city’s Get It Done platform.
A spokesperson for the city said the technology will help trash pickup run more smoothly. They can track which bins belong to what homes, like when someone throws hazardous waste in the wrong bin. Last week, two separate fires broke out in collection trucks because of a lithium battery and a patio heater. According to a city Facebook post, Fire-Rescue crews put both out fast, but the city warned these incidents are dangerous.
“The RFIDs do not track anything, but the readers will be able to record which containers were collected. So, if the City learns that a particular truck’s load contains hazardous materials, the City will know which containers were picked up, as long as those containers had working RFIDs and as long as the truck’s reader detected the RFID when the container was emptied,” wrote Kelly Terry, senior public information officer for the city.
The rollout comes as San Diego officials set out to charge single-family homeowners a special fee for trash collection. Earlier proposals set the monthly fee as high as $53. Following public backlash over the price, the city recently revised the proposed rate to $47.59 per month for full-service customers. The fee would increase gradually, reaching $59.42 by July 2027 under the revised proposal. Smaller bin users would pay less.
San Diego’s new trash fee would still be among the most expensive in the county. It would be higher than rates in cities like La Mesa ($27.53), Carlsbad ($30.67), and Chula Vista ($36.80), but lower than Long Beach ($67.63), San Francisco ($121.93) and San Jose ($160.35).
The City Council is expected to vote on setting a public hearing date for the updated fees today.
The RFiD tags are pretty useless since each truck likely picks up hundreds of bins per trip. What good is it knowing one of 100 homeowners put a lithium battery in their bin which caused a fire? What would have made more sense would be to have a weighing system so homeowners were charged by the amount of trash rather than just a pickup. Speaking of which, the RFiD tags could be used to reduce the fees by how many times a month the bins are picked up. Only put your bin out 2x a month instead of 4, knock 30% off the monthly rate.
As for why Long Beach and San Fran have higher rates, how much research would it have taken to figure that out? Doesn’t Long Beach not have a local dump so trucks have to travel further? Likely the same for SF. But wow, almost 50% less for other San Diego cities and they outsource to private business. Something is wrong if the City can’t run their system at or below a profit driven business.
Doug – Billing for collected trash weight won’t work unless the bins are secured. Otherwise, people will wait until a neighbor puts out their bin and then dump trash into the neighbor’s bin – and cut the monthly charge. If they don’t want batteries in the trash, they need to come up with a hazardous waste plan that meets the needs of 500,000 households, unlike the present model. Collection of batteries once a week? At a single location? Open for only 6 hours? Requiring a reservation? It’s a total failure!
I am not opposed to paying for trash pick up but to go from zero to $47-53 is ridiculous, unless they will replace every single container with a new one (which is not necessary), have bulk item pick up similar to private companies, have hazardous waste collection at different locations with hours that work for the citizens, and have people answering the phone at least M-F 8-5
Don’t tell me about not throwing away stuff in the right place when the options are almost absolutely inconvenient
Unfortunately this feels like a fast way for city to get money and not about what is best for the city and it’s citizens
There is a path to shut this down—but time is short.
Under Prop 218, the City must allow us to protest the fee. The week of April 21, protest cards will be mailed to all 233,000 affected households. If 117,000 of us return those cards by June 9, 2025, the City cannot impose the fee.
Let me repeat that: If a majority of us speak up, this fee dies. Legally. Permanently.
Act Now—Don’t Wait
I’m urging every San Diego homeowner: Fill out your protest card and send it back the moment it arrives. Don’t toss it. Don’t delay. This is your vote—your voice—on whether we’re forced to pay twice for a service we already fund through taxes.
I’ve talked to neighbors who didn’t even know this was happening. Others are confused or feel powerless. That’s exactly why I’m speaking out. We need to spread the word—and hold City Hall accountable.
If we allow this garbage fee to go through unchecked, what’s next? San Diego faces serious fire risks every year. Will homeowners be penalized for not using enough green bins for yard waste? Will more hidden fees be tacked on in the name of “safety” or “sustainability”? Will San Diego be at risk for a similar 2025 Los Angeles fire catastrophe?
Before we hand over more of our wallets, we need answers, transparency, and a system we can trust.
Our Leaders Must Step Up—Or Step Aside
Mayor Todd Gloria and City Councilmembers Joe LaCava, Jennifer Campbell, Stephen Whitburn, Henry Foster III, Marni von Wilpert, Kent Lee, Raul Campillo, Vivian Moreno, and Sean Elo-Rivera: if you can justify this cost, follow the law, and be honest with residents—great. But until then?
I’m sending in my protest card. And I hope you’ll join me.
So the city is monitoring San Diegans with automated license plate reading streetlight mounted cameras and intelligent trash bins?
🇺🇸They gonna know if you trashed your voting ballot!
⛺️They gonna measure the rate of homeless dumpster diving!
🕵️♂️ They finally gonna ID litters!
I presume the two lame duck council members sided with the public while the others kick the can until the next election. The million-dollar consultants got this figured out but the residents too dumb in realizing au revoir the train left the station a long time ago. Maybe instead of electing who the media determines as a winning horse, vote for underfunded candidates who espouse your ideals.
Says the umpteen time election loser.
So that means half a million 95-gallon plastic bins are going into the trash where they likely won’t be recycled.
https://interplasinsights.com/plastic-industry-insights/latest-plastics-industry-insights/why-91-percent-plastic-waste-never-recycled/#:~:text=A%20significant%20portion%20of%20plastic,sort%2C%20and%20process%20plastic%20waste.
One of the greatest speeches of the 20th Century
The famous Theodore Roosevelt quote about striving valiantly and daring greatly
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
—Theodore Roosevelt
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
Do as I say, not as I do, while he quotes Roosevelt. ” not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles”
But yet criticizes “but the residents too dumb in realizing au revoir the train left the station a long time ago. ”
Typical political hypocrite.
We are all Connected 🌎 Government be like Me! 🤑
Trying to Renovate with a $25 Gift Card. 👷🏻♀️
Trying to buy real estate with $5 in the Bank. 🪙
Trying to get an advance on the future 💸
I can see a benefit of bin tracking for those like myself that don’t need weekly pickups. I live alone and can go a month without blue or black can pickup. Discount fee by number pickup required.
URGENT: Ballots are due back to the City Clerk’s office no later than June 9, 2025 at 2PM to protest the new trash tax. If enough San Diegans protest the $50/month fee for trash services, than the Council can’t implement the proposed ordinance. Remember, Measure M won a less-than-honest victory with the help of 2400 misplaced ballots after a dubious campaign that pitted single family homeowners and tenants against apartment dwellers and condo owners. City officials (including Mayor Todd Gloria) portrayed San Diegans who rent or own single family homes as entitled, wealthy freeloaders and then fanned the flames until the lies and misconceptions exploded. If you are unwilling to see your taxes go up by a minimum of $600 per year, please go to nextdoor.com and find a protest ballot form. You’ll need to provide your own postage or deliver it to the City Clerks’ office.
Before the City of San Diego makes (another) a misguided investment in “smart” trash bins, it may want to look into spending some money on “gentle” trash trucks.
I, like many of my neighbors have personal experience with damaged and destroyed bins as a result of the over-powered claws that empty trash by whiplashing the receptacles above the truck to shake loose any debris. Then, with an unceremonius crash, the bins are body-slammed back on to the street often resulting in huge cracks, broken lids and wheels that no longer turn.