STAR is proud to announce the winners of the 2020 Bin Grant Program, sponsored by Busch Systems

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

STAR Executive Director Jordan Fengel wrote an article about "Recycling During a Pandemic" for SWEEP (Solid Waste Environmental Excellence Protocol). Read the full article at link below.

Recycling During a Pandemic

The article serves as a guidance to government officials, planners, and recycling industry operators to provide the most up-to-date information regarding the lifespan of COVID-19 on inanimate objects and how to keep recycling services and facilities in operation and everyone involved safe.

[EarthShare of Texas press release, March 25, 2020]

In need of some good news this week? EarthShare of Texas and its 40 member nonprofits are breathing a sigh of relief after H-E-B announced a $190,000 gift to the organization. This generous gift will benefit many parks, waterways, and environmental education programs across the State of Texas, allowing our communities to enjoy our beautiful state for years to come. 

Why is this gift so important during this time? Many environmental nonprofits’ volunteer events and major fundraising gatherings, like Earth Day, typically occur during the spring, as we all shed our coats and enjoy the fresh, warm weather. With the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these events have been or will be canceled.  This forces many of our members to seek new virtual avenues for community engagement and fundraising.

EarthShare of Texas’s relationship with H-E-B is not new. Since 2007, we’ve partnered every year in April for H-E-B’s tear pad campaign, where customers can tear off and add check-out coupons worth $1, $3, or $5 to their total bill to support EarthShare of Texas member organizations. In the interest of safety, for both H- E-B Partners and the public, H-E-B has decided to forgo the yearly tear-pad campaign and kindly cut a check for EarthShare of Texas directly.

We are beyond pleased to continue our partnership with H-E-B. The Texas environment and its beneficiaries (plants, animals, their ecosystem, and you and me) are grateful for the contribution. Thank you, H-E-B!

To learn more about supporting EarthShare of Texas and our member organizations, feel free to visit us at https://earthshare-texas.org. Feel like telling us more about how you love the Texas environment and want to get further involved? Message us directly at estx@earthshare-texas.org.

SAVE THE DATE! This year's Summit will be hosted in Austin on Oct. 5–7th!

This will be the biggest and best Summit yet, as we are — for the first time ever — combining our two annual conferences: Recycling Summit and Compost Summit!

We'll be posting more information and registration details on social media and our website in the coming months.

We look forward to seeing you there!

3/13/2020 – STAR has released an updated statement regarding COVID-19 and its effects on our upcoming member and council activities.

See full STAR Updated COVID-19 Statement

STAR has decided to cancel all in-person meetings for staff, Board of Directors, and its members, including any council related events such as the Texas Reuse Tour until further notice.

We reached this decision after closely monitoring the Texas Department of State Health Services guidance as well as the federal and international bodies working directly on measures to contain COVID-19 and the latest from the World Health Organization. The move reflects ongoing efforts to practice “social distancing” recommended by health officials to lessen the chances of spreading COVID-19.

While our STAR council events are the heart of our partnership and learning environment, we want to keep the wellness, safety, and regard of our members and supporters as the main priority.

3/10/2020 – Today STAR released a statement regarding COVID-19 and its effects on our upcoming member and council activities.

STAR COVID-19 Statement

Please contact STAR at info@recyclingstar.org with any questions or concerns. 

This year's Summit — hosted in Austin — will be the biggest and best yet, as we are (for the first time ever) combining our two annual conferences—Recycling Summit and Compost Summit!

STAR is looking for volunteers to help plan out this year's combined Summit agenda, as well as our networking events! We have two volunteer-based committees that will work with STAR Board members and staff. We would be thrilled to have your help! 

Sign up to Join a STAR Summit Committee

join either committee (or both):

The Agenda Planning Committee will cover speaking topics, panel ideas, and help to arrange speakers for this great event. 

The Networking and Events Planning Committee will work to identify networking spaces, develop networking events, help secure auction items, and develop other fun, interactive games for conference attendees to play. 

Once we have the committee members identified, STAR will put out a Doodle poll to secure a reoccurring day/time for the committee calls. At first, the calls will be more frequently held but then will decrease as planning wraps up. 

Please email any questions or comments to:    jordan.fengel@recyclingstar.org.

We look forward to working with you to make this year's Summit the best yet!

STAR has released its write-up of the Texas Glass Recycling Workshop, which was co-hosted with the Glass Recycling Coalition and held at the CAPCOG building in Austin on November 13, 2019. 

The sold-out event had speakers from across the glass recycling supply chain discussing the current state of glass recycling in Texas, as well as the barriers, and the opportunities, that can help advance the industry. 

Read the article now by clicking below and let us know your thoughts in the public discussion forum! 

 Texas Glass Recycling Workshop Article

Our Mission Partner, The Recycling Partnership, has released their 2020 State of Curbside Recycling report!

Check it out! This is a must read to get the most up-to-date insights about what is happening with programs, prices, and more.

"This Recycling Partnership report is an analysis of the dimensions, performance, stresses, and opportunities for improvement to curbside recycling in the United States. The purpose of curbside recycling is to efficiently collect and deliver high quality materials from U.S. households to the circular economy – a “reverse distribution” system to gather back millions of tons of paper and packaging dispersed to millions of households for the manufacturing of new products."

Download the Report!

The Reuse Council of the State of Texas Alliance for Recycling is proud to announce the winners of the 2019 Texas Reuse Contest. 

This is the second year the Council has organized the Reuse Contest, in which contestants design and create new objects from materials diverted from landfills. Winners receive certificates, tickets to reuse tours, and gift cards redeemable at reuse stores.

The National Reuse Contest, held by the Reuse People of America, was discontinued in 2017. Since then, however, due to popular demand in the Lone Star State, the Texas Reuse Contest lives on!

See photos of the winners' projects on our Facebook page!

The 2019 winners are:

Individual Construction & Remodeling

1^st Place: Cynthia Piro, Houston, Custom Designed 8'x10' Tree House

2^nd Place: Izzy Plunkett, Houston, Hurricane Harvey Recovery Through Public Art Project

3^rd Place: Tim Wermond, Austin, Ultra-Modern Contemporary Bathroom Renovation

Individual Art, Fashion, & Furniture

1^st Place: Oscar Rangel, Houston, Giant Nutcracker

2^nd Place: Yureisly Suarez, Austin, End Tables Made from Granite Sink Cutouts

3^rd Place: Steve Stelzer, Houston, Armoire Lamp Made from Reused Materials

Businesses and Organizations

1^st Place: Dottie Moore, Houston, Encourager Church Limitless Camp Stage Show

_______________________________________

We thank all of this year’s contestants for submitting their projects:

Vivian Brewster, Onalaska; Alan Montemayor, San Antonio; Shauntrice Nash, Denton; Husani Sallah, Houston; Vernon Berger, Austin; Mary Buonamici, Austin; Maddie Burton, Austin; Kenn Coplan, Houston; April Garcia, Austin; Ellen Gilgore, Denton; Alicia Kahn, Houston; Brianna Minks, Austin; Kiki Neumann, Houston; Melissa Rothrock, Austin, Melinda Rushing, Burleson; Christine Schumaker, Denton; Becky Wilkes, Asle; and Gabriela Williams, Garland.

Our distinguished judges this year were:

Madhav Acharya; Ahshia Berry; Karen Lantz, AIA; Dan Phillips; Page Piland; Amy Reed; Stacy Savage; and Sarah-Jayne Smith.

While the holiday season brings friends and family together for fun, food and gifts, it also brings a lot of waste. As our partners at the Recycling Partnership have noted, research at Stanford University found that, "Americans throw away 25% more trash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day than any other time of the year"—which amounts to 25 million tons of extra garbage! To help you curb your contribution to this added waste, we offer some tips below for recycling your holiday cheer.

WRAPPING AND PACKAGING
(WHEN IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT—OR BETTER YET, REUSE!)

• Cardboard Boxes: Reuse or recycle in your usual recycling bin (flatten first)
  
• Wrapping Paper: Plain, paper-based wrapping paper is recyclable & can be put in your recycling bin. If it is laminated, has foil, is shiny or metallic, it is not recyclable (most wrapping paper is NOT recyclable). Consider reusing it for future gifts or other creative projects.
  • Tape left on wrapping paper can be recycled—but try to use as little as possible while wrapping
  • Consider wrapping your gifts with reusable materials, such as newspaper or using reusable gift bags instead
• Ribbons & Bows: Are NOT recyclable, but very reusable!
• Holiday Cards: Only plain paper cards are recyclable. If there is any non-paper decoration on them, such as foil or glitter, they are NOT recyclable.
• Live Christmas Trees: Many communities organize drop-off stations for trees after the holidays, while some even offer curbside pickup (Austin & Dallas, for example). All decorations should be removed first. Check your city or town's website for locations.
• Holiday Lights: Old and broken string lights cannot be put in your recycling bin (they are tanglers!), but several communities accept them at special drop-off locations. (Austin's Recycle and Reuse Drop-Off Center is one; and the City of Georgetown has set up three special recycling drop-off stations; or mail them to the Christmas Light Source Recycling Program).
• Tissue Paper, Packing Peanuts, and Foam Wrapping Sheets: None of these are recyclable, unfortunately, but they are very reusable!
  
• Bubble Wrap: Can be recycled ONLY at participating grocery or retail stores that collect plastic film and bags (HEB, Target, Walmart, to name a few). It cannot be put in your recycling bin, as it is a tangler that needs to be handled separately. Some cities (like Austin) have drop-offs for bubble wrap and plastic film.
  
• Styrofoam packaging: Many communities have drop-off locations for polystyrene and polyethylene ("styrofoam") containers—the kind used in electronics shipping; coolers; etc. Some, like Austin's Recycle and Reuse Drop-Off Center, even accept foam take-out containers (rinsed of food) and foam wrapping sheets. Check your community's website for locations.

MORE TIPS FROM THE RECYCLING PARTNERSHIP

The Recycling Partnership has a series of holiday blogs that will help you reduce, reuse, and recycle this holiday season! Check them out below:

1. Green Holiday Decorating Tips and Tricks
2. Your Guide to a Green Holiday Party
3. Your Guide to Green Holiday Gifting