The call for nominations for the 2020 Texas Environmental Leadership Awards is open!

The Awards annually recognize the outstanding contributions of individuals, communities, and businesses for developing or maintaining programs involving recycling and other sustainability efforts across Texas.

Nominations close July 10th, 2020 at 5 pm CST, so nominate your most recognition-deserving recycling colleagues now!

Apply here!

The call for nominations for the STAR North Texas 2020 Environmental Leadership Awards is open!

The Awards annually recognize the outstanding contributions of individuals, communities, and businesses for developing or maintaining programs involving recycling and other sustainability efforts in North Texas.

Nominations close June 29 at 5pm CST, so nominate your most recognition-deserving recycling colleagues now!

Award nomination form: http://ow.ly/a6IA50zz3fh.

The 2020 Texas Recycling and Composting Summit Call-for-Speakers is Now Open!

Submit your proposal here

STAR is hosting the Texas Recycling and Composting Summit at the Marriott South Hotel in Austin, Texas, October 5-7, 2020.

This is the only state conference dedicated entirely to two major sectors of materials management—recycling and composting. We're excited to feature engaging sessions on relevant and timely topics in both sectors.

We anticipate this year's Texas Recycling and Composting Summit to attract more than 300 recycling professionals from municipalities, local and state government, private industry, higher education, and NGOs/trade associations.

We have opened up a call for subject experts to participate in both presentation-style sessions (60 minutes) and engaging and discursive panels (90 minutes).

We invite you to submit the information below as it relates to one or more of the following topics:

• COVID-19—Moving Forward in Changing Times: retailers, manufacturers, haulers, processors and others connected through the supply chain
• Hard to recycle items: policies, practices, how-to guides on managing EPS material, mattresses, appliances, and other not easily recyclable goods
• Buying recycled: state/local gov/corporation policies, practices, and how-to guides for the procurement of recycled content goods
• Integrated landfill facilities in Texas and beyond
• Technological advancements in the resource management industry, such as blockchain tech, A.I., deep learning machines
• End-market development in Texas current and future, such as chemical recycling, processors, end-users
• How-to 101: Virtual Communications and Presentations in the digital world - with staff, the public, and personally
• Recycling and waste diversion best management practices for Hospitality, Healthcare, and Businesses (small and large generators)
• Texas wine and beer sustainability – material diversion, bottle reuse, and best management practices for waste reduction
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) – what’s new, what’s coming
• The Packaging Debate – the myths and the facts
• Construction materials recovery - wood to biochar, metals, office furniture, and other recovered C&D materials

Topics are not limited to the above list, if you have an alternate idea about a topic you would like to speak about all ideas will be considered. 

The deadline for submitting is Friday, June 19th at 11:59 pm CST.
The Summit Agenda Committee will review all the submissions, and participants will be notified of the status of their submission via email by mid-July. 

Please note: Not all submissions will be selected to participate as a speaker at Summit.

Help guide and enhance this great organization!

STAR's goal is to provide the necessary services that you need as we all work towards the mission of advancing recycling in Texas. We would greatly appreciate feedback from our STAR members on how we're doing and what you'd like to see more (or less) of from us in our outreach and activities.

You should have received an email with a link to our new membership survey. If you did not receive it, please let us know at info@recyclingstar.org and we will send you the link. The survey is brief and you will remain anonymous. We value the feedback you are giving us!

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!