San Jose hauled 24.4 million pounds of trash in a year as illegal dumping keeps growing

San Jose city crews, contractors and volunteers removed 24.4 million pounds of trash from streets, creeks and other public spaces in the 2024-25 budget year, according to a July 2025 report from BeautifySJ, the city's cleanup program.  About 14.3 million pounds of that came from illegal dumping and litter.

City officials say the problem is growing.  "The volume of illegal dumping in neighborhoods continues to increase," the city manager's office states on its page tracking the City Council's neighborhood cleanup goal.

Why the trash builds up

The largest cause by weight is illegal dumping, when people leave furniture, mattresses and other bulky items on public land.  BeautifySJ's illegal dumping team, known as RAPID, closed 28,303 work orders in 2024-25 and picked up 8,582 mattresses, the July report says.  The city auditor counted 5,290 tons of illegally dumped material that year.

"Our response to illegal dumping citywide is too slow," Mayor Matt Mahan wrote in his March 2026 budget message.  He said it takes the city an average of 65 days to review a dumping case and cite the person responsible, and set a goal of about 10 days.  He also cited gaps in free Junk Pickup near large apartment complexes.

Homeless encampments are another source.  City teams visit about 180 active encampments each week to collect trash, according to the city's encampment program page.  Its "Cash for Trash" program pays residents on prepaid debit cards for trash they bag.  Valley Water, the county's water agency, reported removing 697 tons of encampment trash, debris and pollutants in fiscal 2025.

Freeways are a separate system.  Interstates 280 and 880, Highway 101 and Highway 87 belong to the state and are maintained by Caltrans, the California Department of Transportation, not the city.  Crews collected 22,658 cubic yards of litter from state highways in Santa Clara County in fiscal 2024, about 22% more than the year before, according to the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA).  VTA says 16,226 cubic yards came from highway encampments.

Some litter falls from vehicles.  State law, Vehicle Code Section 23114, requires loads to be covered or secured so nothing drops, blows or spills.  Caltrans says furniture, appliances and yard waste commonly fall from trucks.

A March 2024 audit by Caltrans' Office of Inspector General said that "in 2020, a surge in public generated trash exhausted available resources."  BeautifySJ's report noted "volunteer fatigue" among the 14,826 volunteers who collected 718,865 pounds of trash in 2024-25.

What is being done

The city has added enforcement.  A new illegal dumping ordinance took effect in June 2025, the city added $250,000 for enforcement in 2025-26, and a working group includes the California Highway Patrol and the county district attorney, the BeautifySJ report says.  Illegal dumping fell an average of 32% at sites with the city's 12 surveillance cameras.

Mahan's March message directed staff to study artificial intelligence cameras, send warning letters to speed up citations, and "right-size BSJ operations by reducing reliance on contracted services."  His June budget plan pairs free Junk Pickup with RAPID crews and tests charging property owners for graffiti removal.

Caltrans says its Clean California program is a $1.2 billion effort that began in July 2021 and has picked up 3.5 million cubic yards of litter statewide.  The state Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), the Legislature's nonpartisan budget adviser, says that total includes $418 million for state litter removal and $400 million in local grants.

In October 2025, San Jose and Caltrans signed an agreement letting city crews handle encampment cleanups at Caltrans sites, the governor's office announced; Mahan's message says it covers 13 locations.  State Sen. Dave Cortese's office says he secured $400,000 for it.

The inspector general's audit found Caltrans' litter rating for the nine-county Bay Area district rose from 45 to 68 on a 100-point scale, but it questioned 53% of the litter data it tested.  In 2025 the LAO recommended against a $25 million round of local grants, saying "local litter abatement is not a core state responsibility."  The state funded it anyway.

What it costs and what comes next

Mahan's March message forecast a $56 million city budget shortfall for 2026-27.  KQED reported in June that the council's final budget cut BeautifySJ funding by $4.2 million after two large encampments were cleared.  VTA says Clean California is scheduled to end in December 2026.

How Texas does it

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) began its "Don't Mess with Texas" campaign in 1986.  A 2026 study for TxDOT by the University of Texas at Austin says the state spends about $50 million a year picking up litter and funds prevention at less than 10% of that.  The study says large litter on Texas roads fell 63.2% from 2013 to 2023, and Adopt-a-Highway volunteers provide $2 million to $3 million in labor a year.  In Santa Clara County, about 70% of Adopt-A-Highway segments are adopted, VTA says.

Source:  City of San Jose BeautifySJ status report, July 28, 2025; City Auditor annual report 2024-25; Mayor's March Budget Message 2026-27; Mayor's June budget release; city cleanup goal page; encampment program page; Caltrans, Sept. 4, 2025 and Feb. 18, 2026 releases; Caltrans Inspector General audit, March 2024; LAO, Feb. 12, 2025; Governor's office, Oct. 30, 2025; Sen. Dave Cortese; VTA; Valley Water file 25-0862; Vehicle Code 23114; Caltrans Clean California; TxDOT/UT Austin 2026 study.