The East Texas Council of Governments (ETCOG) announces $93,500 in grants from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) awarded to East Texas jurisdictions, special districts, and regional initiatives to support waste minimization efforts in ETCOG’s fourteen-county region. This 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.
Applicants were eligible to apply for the following Municipal Solid Waste Grant Project Categories: 1) Local Enforcement, 2) Litter and Illegal Dumping Clean Up and Community Collection Events, 3) Source Reduction and Recycling, 4) Local Solid Waste Management Plans, 5) Citizens’ Collection Stations and “Small” Registered Transfer Stations, 6) Household Hazardous Waste Management, 7) Technical Studies, 8) Educational and Training Projects.
ETCOG annually helps jurisdictions apply for funds, which are then ranked and scored by our Solid Waste Advisory Committee. This committee is made up of local subject matter experts from the region. After the ETCOG Executive Committee approves the projects, we recommend them to TCEQ. The following grants in East Texas have been approved for funding by TCEQ.
“ETCOG 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,” said ETCOG’s Economic Development Manager, Parker Harrison. “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.”