H-GAC's next Solid Waste Workshop will be from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Thursday, November 18.

The event will be online, and registration is required.

The topic will be Recycling Market Workshop, and Scott Pasternak with Burns & McDonald will lead the discussion.

H-GAC's solid waste workshops focus on in-depth studies of different topics each quarter. For more information, contact Erin Livingston.

Fall Planning Workshop – December 3 (Online)

Make plans to attend H-GAC's Fall Planning workshop from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Friday, December 3. The topic will be Growing Kid-Friendly Communities, with a focus on safety and strong communities.

The event will be online, and registration is required.

The Fall Planning Workshop is an annual workshop for local governments featuring presentations on planning best practices for communities.

For more information, contact Cheryl Mergo.

River, Lakes, Bays ‘N Bayous Trash Bash® – March 26, 2022

The River, Lakes, Bays ‘N Bayous Trash Bash®, Texas’s largest single-day waterway cleanup, is excited to welcome back volunteers to the 28th annual event on Saturday, March 26, 2022.

Since its inception, more than 114,000 volunteers have collected over 2,300 tons of trash, 20 tons of recyclable materials, and 11,629 tires. Find out how to volunteer and promote a healthy Galveston Bay watershed at one of their many cleanup locations on March 26. Trash Bash hopes you will come out and help “Clean it like you mean it!” ®

To address these issues, the Trash Free Texas team is working with Texas-based restaurants, third-party delivery services, and manufacturers to identify win-win strategies to reduce the use of single-use plastic, helping our partners save money, reduce litter, and clean up our communities. Want to be a part of the solution? Consider joining our Plastic Reduction Work Group. 

Beginning in late November 2021, the Plastic Reduction Work Group will meet online to discuss the challenges, opportunities, and resources available to restaurants, third-party delivery services, and manufacturers to reduce the frequency of single-use plastic use. Through these discussions, the project team will develop a Tool Kit of best practices to aid partners in implementing plastic reduction strategies, as well as Case Studies that highlight the great work already being done. Interested parties can choose to adopt those strategies, helping the project team collect data to better understand which methods are most effective for restaurants.

A general overview of the timeline for the Work Group is:

To join the Work Group email list or to learn more about the project, email Kathy Janhsen.

Released in July 2021, the Texas Litter Database is an online tool for entering, storing, and viewing trash and marine debris data collected in Texas. Anyone can use and view the trash data in the Texas Litter Database and everyone is encouraged to do so, including volunteers and litter cleanup event organizers. The Texas Litter Database was created by Keep Texas Beautiful, the Houston Advanced Research Center, and Black Cat GIS, and funded by the Garver Black Hilyard Family Foundation. Keep Texas Beautiful is also offering Office Hour Sessions from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. every Tuesday in November. This is a chance to ask questions and share your screen so you can get help with any issues you may have. These sessions are open to anyone with database questions.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) invites students in 6th through 12th grades to enter the annual Take Care of Texas Video Contest. Student videos should be 30 seconds long and portray positive ways Texans can help keep air and water clean, conserve water and energy, or reduce waste. The contest deadline is Friday, December 3, and the public will have the opportunity to pick their favorite videos January 18-29, 2022. There will be six winners. Waste Management of Texas, Inc. will provide prizes--GoPro cameras and scholarships. The middle and high school students who win first place will be recognized by the TCEQ Commissioners and representatives from Waste Management of Texas, Inc.

For more than two decades, communities have come together on November 15 to celebrate America Recycles Day. Find tools for organizing or attending special events online.

The City of Houston recently added colored paint to make crosswalks more visible and provide more protection for pedestrians and bicyclists at the intersection of Quitman and Fulton streets. According to The Leader News, the project is a joint initiative by the city, METRO, Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, and the Greater Northside Management District, with the idea to promote multimodal transportation and provide increased connectivity to Houston’s expanding trail network.

This project is part of the Greater Northside Management District's Quitman Pedestrian-Transit Improvement Project. A 2010 H-GAC Livable Centers study identified the Quitman/Fulton Street areas as the "heart" of Northside and included recommendations for pedestrian and streetscape improvements in the area.

H-GAC's Livable Centers Program works with local communities to reimagine auto-focused infrastructure, policies, and programs to be more multi-modal friendly.

H-GAC has compiled a list of local, regional, state, federal, and private funding sources for local governments and other organizations. H-GAC also maintains a list of ongoing funding opportunities for parks improvements, conservation projects, and economic recovery resources.

If you know of a funding opportunity, forward it to Andrea Tantillo.

Looking for interactive applications or GIS data related to the H-GAC Community and Environmental Planning Department? Visit H-GAC's interactive applications web page.

H-GAC has a Facebook page where information about current and upcoming events is posted. Please visit and like H-GAC's page. While there, visit other H-GAC pages on Facebook, including Recycling, Trash Bash, and Regional Data Lab.