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  • Thu, September 07, 2023 10:19 AM | Tamara Kowalski (Administrator)

    STAR North Texas Council

    STAR North Texas Council held Steering Committee elections in July. The Council is now represented by Wendy Chance (chair), Sergio Gonzalez & Lora Hinchcliff (co-vice chairs), Mike Bednar (secretary), Robert Medigovich, Lanny Shivers, Clayton Swize, Terry Shultz, and Daulton O’Neill.

    NTX has been holding regular monthly Networking Happy Hours and Lunch & Learn events since March. Their next Happy Hour event will be on September 21st at The Network Bar in Dallas. Click here to register.

    Coming up: The Council is planning another Lunch & Learn for October and a holiday party and membership meeting at EarthX in December. Details to come!

    The NTX Council's recent August 17th Lunch & Learn was held in Grapevine and had a great turn out. Three local experts (Antonio Ramos, Spot-On Services; Kim Jennings, City of Denton; Edward Washington, Frito-Lay Arlington) presented on the challenges of hard-to-recycle items. 

    For Earth Day, STAR NTX organized a large group that joined TRWD's Trash Bash river litter cleanup in Fort Worth on April 22nd!

    STAR Business Council

    The STAR Business Council elected new and past steering committee members to the helm in August: Richard Abramowitz, RMA Consultants, LLC (chair); Steve Shannon, Orion Solid Waste Resources Management, LLC (vice chair); Karan Bali, Dow Chemicals (secretary), Chris Luce (SmartSort Technologies Inc.), and Ken Thomas. Congratulations to all and thank you for your dedication.

    The Business Council (BC) continues to hold regular monthly online meetings on the first Thursday of the month. These are open to all who are interested. Register to participate here.

    Council Vice Chair Steve Shannon presented at Keep Texas Beautiful's annual conference in June on the recycling infrastructure deficit in Texas "and the need for local and regional governments and agencies to coalesce and cooperate with their Economic Development Corporations to solicit and facilitate the development of collection, densification, transportation, processing and end-use market facilities and systems."

    To that end, the BC is also in discussion with the Texas Economic Development Council (TEDC), which represents the 725 local Economic Development Corporations in Texas. The TEDC is interested in partnering with STAR to promote and conduct workshops to stimulate the development of collection, densification, processing and consuming manufacturing industries; particularly in the non-urban, underserved communities. The BC has just forwarded a proposal for these workshops to be held to the STAR Board.

    On March 28th, the BC held one of the most successful "Walk the Halls" events they've had to date, with nearly 25 people sharing the Council's legislative platform with key Texas legislators. The platform contains follow-up recommendations to the Council's successful work on the Recycling Market Development Plan (RMDP), published by TCEQ in August of 2021. Over twenty five visits to House and Senate members and/or their staff’s were made in pairs of at least two per meeting. STAR Mission Partners Universal Recycling Technologies (URT) are especially thanked for sending almost 10 people to participate.

    If you are interested in participating, or in working with the Business Council, please contact Business Council Chair Richard Abramowitz at: richard.abramowitz@outlook.com.

    Central Texas Council

    STAR Central Texas Council (CTX) is currently lead by Amy Thomaides as acting chair, and Quincey Pugh as acting Secretary. They will be sending out a survey to current STAR CTX members soon to gather input on what they would like to see the Council focus on, in addition to tours, meetings and meet-ups for 2023.

    If you are a STAR member and would like to be involved, make sure that Central Texas Council is checked in your membership profile in order to be added to their mailing list (log in to our website  with your email address; click "Forgot password" to create one, if needed). Announcements will be sent to our general email lists, as well.

  • Wed, January 11, 2023 12:04 PM | Tamara Kowalski (Administrator)


    STAR 2023 Environmental Sustainability Scholarships Now Open!

    See Details and Apply

    As a part of STAR’s commitment to the growth of the environmental and recycling business community in Texas, STAR developed two annual environmental sustainability scholarships in 2022 for students, teachers and student groups.

    Each year, the Student Scholarship will aid up to two graduating high school seniors or enrolled college students looking to study or currently working towards a degree in Environmental Sustainability or other related major of course work.

    The Group and Teacher Scholarship will annually support up to two educators and one officially recognized student group looking to start, enhance, or sustain recycling or landfill reduction programs on their campus or in their community.

  • Wed, December 21, 2022 11:47 AM | Tamara Kowalski (Administrator)


    Wondering what to do with those old or broken holiday decorations once the holiday is over?

    SEE WRAPPING & PACKAGING TIPS HERE

    Most holiday decorations cannot go in your recycling cart, but many communities offer recycling drop-offs. Check with your local city or community recycling center to see if they will take them, and see a few ideas below.

    String light recycling

    Christmas tree recycling

    • Travis County: (December 26 – January 10) Free Christmas tree recycling for Travis County residents at five locations, 7am–5pm. Make sure your tree does not have any decorations or netting on it. See more on their recycling web page.
    • City of Austin: (starting December 26th) curbside tree pickup, plus drop-off at Zilker Park on certain dates; see City of Austin's Holiday Tree Recycling page.
    • City of Dallas: Place curbside with Brush and Bulky Items, or drop off at locations listed on their website.
    • City of Denton: Denton's Solid Waste & Recycling is offering drop-off or curbside pickup (with call to schedule) to compost your tree. See more details on Facebook here.
    • City of El Paso: Trees can be dropped off at five Citizen Collection Stations listed here (type "Christmas tree" in the search).
    • City of San Antonio: (first two weeks of January) five locations for drop-off. See details on their website.
  • Mon, September 26, 2022 2:51 PM | Tamara Kowalski (Administrator)

    2022 Texas Environmental Leadership Awards Winners Announced

    STAR is thrilled to announce the recipients of this year's Texas Environmental Leadership Awards!

    Recipients will be honored on October 13th during Summit 2022 at the Texas Environmental Leadership Awards Dinner and Reception.

    Extraordinary Recycling Special Event

    City of Addison

    Volunteer of the Year

    Mayor Alan Brundrett – City of Azle

    Superior Material Recovery

    GDB International

    Honorable mention – City of Azle

    Outstanding Public Outreach

    City of Plano

    Honorable mention – City of Denton

    Innovative Organics Diversion

    Texas State University – Bobcat Blend

    Honorable mention – City of Farmers Branch

    Exceptional Recycling Partnership

    Pratt Industries and the City of Denton

    Honorable mention – UT Arlington

    Excellence in Environmental Awareness Education

    Allen ISD

    Honorable mention – City of Georgetown & It’s Your Nature

    Cis Myers Leadership Award

    Debbie Bruner

    Honorable mention – City of Wylie

    All-STAR Elected Official

    Ken Medders – South Padre Island

    Honorable mention – Mayor Ken Fulk, City of Allen

  • Mon, April 18, 2022 11:14 AM | Tamara Kowalski (Administrator)

    STAR is proud to announce the winners of the 2021 Bin Grant Program, sponsored by Busch Systems

    Congratulations to this year's Bin Grant winners: Children's Health CVICU (Dallas), DISD Lakewood Elementary and City of Waco Solid Waste Services!

    Thank you to all who entered this year's competition, and to Busch Systems for sponsoring this year's competition!

    STAR's Bin Grant Program is made possible by our Mission Partner Busch Systems, whose support enables us to provide direct grants of brand new Busch Systems bins to expand or start recycling programs in Texas.

    Learn More

  • Wed, March 30, 2022 9:17 AM | Deleted user

    March 30, 2022

    STAR Board and Members,

    I have made the decision to resign as Executive Director. My updated last day with STAR will be April 14, 2022.

    I am grateful for the many meaningful projects on which I was able to work, including the Texas Recycling Market Development Plan, outreach to Texas lawmakers, the 2021 Texas Recycling Summit and Texas Environmental Leadership Awards, and the launch of TexasRecyclesDay.org.

    I am particularly inspired by the number of dedicated individuals I had the opportunity to work with on smaller projects that often led to crucial conversations and big changes.

    STAR has an important mission and a bright future ahead of it. I look forward to participating as a member and partner.

    Sincerely,


    Brittany Rosenberg
    Executive Director, STAR
    Brittany.rosenberg@recyclingstar.org
    512-537-7862


  • Mon, March 28, 2022 10:00 AM | Deleted user

    During the March 24 STAR Board of Directors (BOD) meeting, the STAR BOD elected and confirmed the following new Officers and Executive Committee:

    Jason Keller, BOD Chair

    Wendy Chance, BOD Vice Chair

    Steve Kassen, BOD Treasurer

    Amy Thomaides, BOD Secretary 

    Robert Trevino, At Large Ex Com

    Heather Douglas, At Large Ex Com

    STAR Members may contact the STAR BOD or Executive Committee members by logging in at the top right and accessing the Member Directory on the Members page. 

  • Fri, March 11, 2022 10:10 AM | Deleted user

    March 11, 2022

    STAR Members,

    Earlier this week, I notified the STAR Board of Directors that I will be stepping down as Chair on March 24, 2022.   Though I will be stepping back from the position of Chair, I expect to remain active with the Board from an ex-officio position in the coming year.

    The STAR Board of Directors will consider new leadership roles at the next Board of Directors meeting on March 24, 2022.

    I have been honored to serve on the State of Texas Alliance for Recycling (STAR) Board of Directors since 2016.  In that time, I have worked closely with three Executive Directors and served as Treasurer, Vice-Chair, and Chair (since 2019).    I would like to thank each of the Board members and STAR staff that I have worked with for their spirit of collaboration and teamwork. 

    During my time on the Board, I have played a role in re-writing the STAR mission, the founding of the STAR Reuse Council and STAR Business Council, supporting statewide recycling as an essential pandemic service, as well as providing support for the TCEQ Texas Recycling Market Development Plan.  I am proud to be part of this impactful organization which creates opportunity for a true circular economy in Texas.

    Sincerely,

    Jason McCombs

    Board Chair, State of Texas Alliance for Recycling (STAR)

    jmccombs.star@gmail.com

    View this letter as a pdf

  • Tue, January 04, 2022 9:40 AM | Rebecca Rainey

    Into The Green Bin:

    Collecting Food Waste from Institutional Settings

    Hosted by Busch Systems in Partnership with EcoSafe

    Wednesday January 12, 1:00pm - 2:30pm EST (Zoom Webinar)

    With landfilled food waste increasingly seen as a significant source of methane emissions, and states like California and Massachusetts beginning to mandate diversion programs organizations across the US and Canada are moving compost collections to the top of their priority list. Along the way, however, sustainability managers from several sectors are confronting both familiar and novel challenges. What steps can be taken to increase participation and avoid contamination? How does one avoid odors and pests, not to mention inflated perceptions about them. How do you integrate organics recovery with existing food service operations and waste collections?
    This FREE webinar will feature a panel of veteran program managers from a range of different institutions sharing the lessons they’ve learned through case study presentations and an extended panel discussion.

    Register HERE: Webinar - Into The Green Bin | Collecting Food Waste (buschsystems.com)

  • Thu, November 11, 2021 9:09 AM | Deleted user

    On Nov 11, the STAR Board of Directors voted unanimously to send the following documents to Texas Lawmakers for consideration during the session interim:

    STAR TX RMDP One Page Overview

    STAR - Letter of Transmittal - Interim Charge

    STAR Proposed Senate Interim Charges

    STAR Proposed House of Representatives Interim Charges 

    These documents were developed with great help from the STAR Business Council and STAR Board Policy Committee and were informed by comments from STAR membership, STAR affiliates, and other Texas recycling industry stakeholders. 

    To submit an informal comment or question over the Texas Recycling Market Development Plan, fill out this form

    Click here to read the Texas Recycling Market Development Plan in full. 

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Austin, TX 78714

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