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Trash Free Texas
News & Updates

February 2023
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This Month's Spotlight
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Program Updates
Trash Free Texas Webinar: Adopt-A-Spot and Texas Litter Database
photo of a person logged in to a webinar
Join the Houston-Galveston Area Council for a Trash Free Texas webinar from 9 to 10 a.m. Thursday, February 23. At this webinar, participants will explore how two resources, the Trash Free Texas Adopt-A-Spot Map and the Texas Litter Database, can assist communities and organizations in building or enhancing volunteer litter cleanup programs. This webinar is a part of H-GAC’s Trash Free Texas project.

Registration is required.

For this project, H-GAC has partnered with the North Central Texas Council of Governments and the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment to establish a unified, coordinated approach to litter abatement and community engagement in the six river basins in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston-Galveston regions.  
Trash Free Texas Webinar: Empower Your Volunteers and Reach New Audiences
Join the North Center Texas Council of Governments for Empower Your Volunteers and Reach New Audiences, a Trash Free Texas webinar. The event will be from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 1, on Microsoft Teams. Attendees will hear a brief overview of the resources developed for the Trash Free Texas website for both volunteers and communities, including ways to help reach new groups, empowering volunteers to start their own cleanup efforts, facilitating communication between communities and volunteers, and educating community staff. You will also hear an overview of resources available to help communities partner with restaurants and reduce the use of single-use plastics and more. Registration is required.
Partner Updates
Make Plans to Participate in Trash Bash on Saturday, March 25
Mark your calendar for the 29th River, Lakes, Bays ‘N Bayous Trash Bash®, Texas’s largest single-day waterway cleanup on Saturday, March 25.  

Since its inception, more than 117,000 volunteers have collected over 2,400 tons of trash, 22 tons of recyclable materials, and 11,965 tires. Find out how to volunteer and promote a healthy Galveston Bay watershed at one of their many cleanup locations on March 25. 

Cleanup supplies, event t-shirts, and lunch are provided to all volunteers. Trash Bash hopes you will come out and help “Clean it like you mean it !” ® 
Make Plans to Participate in KTB's Annual Great American Cleanup
Registration is open on the Keep Texas Beautiful website for the Keep America Beautiful Great American Cleanup. Activities include Keep Texas Waterways Clean in March, Don’t Mess with Texas Trash-Off in April, and Keep Texas Parks and Trails Clean in May. You can learn more and find local events at https://ktb.org/events/great-american-cleanup-registration-opne/ 
Texas Plastic Symposium to Discuss Plastic Research on April 5
Texas Plastic Pollution Symposium logo
Registration is now open for the 2023 Texas Plastic Symposium on Wednesday, April 5 on the University of Houston-Clear Lake campus. The purpose of this event is to bring together scientists to discuss plastic research being conducted in Texas. A program booklet is available online and will be updated with a schedule of presentations and events. 
Adopt-A-Beach Cleanup Event is April 22
Adopt a Beach wordmark with water icon
Make plans to participate in the Texas General Land Office Adopt-A-Beach Coastwide Cleanup on Earth Day, Saturday, April 22, in various locations along the Texas coast. The events will be from 8:30 a.m. to noon at more than 23 locations from Jefferson County to Cameron County, with seven in Galveston, Brazoria, and Matagorda counties, and registration is open
Since the first Adopt-A-Beach cleanup in 1986, more than 563,000 volunteers have picked up nearly 10,000 tons of trash from Texas beaches, some of it originating from as far away as South America. 
Drug Enforcement Administration Takes Back Prescription Drugs in April
DEA National Takeback
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) National Prescription Drug Take Back Day will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 22. Check the DEA website in early October for area drop-off locations. The collection event provides a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs, while also educating the general public about the potential for abuse of medications and environmental contamination. Law enforcement agencies interested in hosting a collection site should call the point of contact for this area.
Do you have a trash clean-up or litter reduction project that’s coming up, ongoing, or recently completed? Ask for help or share your success with the Trash Free Texas Community by sharing in our quarterly update.