As part of the Trash Free Texas: Basin-wide Community Engagement Strategies to Reduce Aquatic Debris project, H-GAC is facilitating a series of Plastic Reduction Workgroup Meetings to discuss the challenges, opportunities, and resources available to restaurants, third-party delivery services, manufacturers, communities, and consumers to reduce the frequency of single-use plastic use in the food services industry.

Through these discussions, the project team will develop a Tool Kit of best practices to aid partners in implementing plastic reduction strategies, as well as Case Studies that highlight the great work already being done. Interested parties can choose to adopt those strategies, helping the project team collect data to better understand which methods are most effective for restaurants.

A general overview of the remaining timeline for the Work Group is:

To join the Work Group email list or to learn more about the project, email [email protected].

If your city or organization has an Adopt-A-Spot volunteer litter cleanup program, wants to start one, has areas in need of routine litter cleanup, or just wants to learn more about this resource, Save the Date for the Trash Free Texas Adopt-A-Spot Map Webinar on Thursday, February 24, 2022, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. The Adopt-A-Spot Map is a free web-based tool that helps to connect volunteers to places in need of routine litter cleanup while allowing cities, counties, and organizations to maintain control of their own litter cleanup programs. Participants will hear from Trash Free Texas staff and partners and are encouraged to ask questions about how the tool can help meet their cleanup goals. 

Registration is required. To learn more about Trash Free Texas, contact Kendall Guidroz at 713-993-2469. 

The Community Cleanup Challenge Toolkit provides resources to assist local and regional governments, nonprofit organizations, and other entities interested in hosting litter cleanup events. While the resources are designed for a competition-style cleanup, many are helpful for planning and implementing standard litter cleanup activities as well.  

The Local Government Trash Reduction and Education Toolkit is a consolidation of resources developed to assist local and regional governments, nonprofit organizations, and other entities who are seeking to engage and educate their communities on the topics of watersheds, litter, aquatic debris, and cleanup initiatives. The toolkit includes videos, reports, infographics, links to existing campaigns, and more.  

In July 2021, Keep Texas Beautiful, Black Cat GIS, and Houston Advanced Research Center announced the launch of the Texas Litter Database. The tool enables tracking and analysis of litter collected during cleanups. The site also introduces Take 2 For Texas, a new fast and easy way to contribute data on plastic bottles.

For Trash Free Texas coordinators and partners, the Texas Litter Database is a complementary tool allowing you or your volunteers to enter your cleanup data and download it later - along with any other helpful litter data. To make it easier for coordinators and volunteers who have adopted your cleanup spots, the Adopt-A-Spot Map now has a link to the litter database right on the map. For those interested in entering data, you can explore the database's users' guide or watch the step-by-step video tutorials to get started.

The North Central Texas Trash (NCTCOG) Free Texas program will host a webinar looking at Making the Most of New Resources for Reducing Litter from 10L30 to 11:30 a.m. Thursday, February 10, 2022.

To register for this free event, visit the NCTCOG Trash Free Texas Project webpage and scroll down to upcoming events.

For more than 30 years, Keep Texas Beautiful, in partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation has awarded the prestigious Governor's Community Achievement Awards to Texas communities for their outstanding overall efforts to keep their communities beautiful. This year, 10 winning communities will share $2 million in landscaping awards from the Texas Department of Transportation, with the amount based on population size. The funds are used for landscaping projects along local rights-of-way.

There is a $25 application fee. The deadline to apply is Thursday, February 17, 2022.