Texas announces $93.5K in grants for solid waste reduction efforts

The East Texas Council of Governments has allocated $93,500 in grants from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to fund solid waste reduction efforts in 15 east Texas jurisdictions.

The grants have been awarded to east Texas jurisdictions, special districts and regional initiatives to support waste minimization efforts in a 14-county region. The funding assists jurisdictions in establishing or expanding projects that would directly provide a measurable effect on reducing the amount of waste going into area landfills by diverting various materials from the municipal solid waste stream for beneficial use or reducing waste generation at the source.

Funded projects included community collection events, tire collection events, a household hazardous waste event, a landfill voucher program, purchase of a recycling roll-off container, a litter abatement officer and illegal dumping toolkits, workshops and guidebooks.

“[East Texas Council of Governments] appreciates the efforts of many of our jurisdictions to apply for these funds, as well as the Solid Waste Advisory Committee’s commitment to making East Texas a cleaner place to live,” says Parker Harrison, economic development manager. “These essential projects led to the cleanup of hundreds of sites, almost 5,000 tires and the collection of nearly a million pounds of solid waste last year. We look forward to seeing the results this year’s projects will bring to the region.”