East Texas, September 19, 2019: ETCOG’s Solid Waste program is now accepting applications for its annual Municipal Solid Waste grant funds. Approximately $118,000 is estimated to be allocated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to regional solid waste minimization efforts in East Texas. Local governments and special districts may apply for funds by submitting an application to ETCOG by October 1, 2019, by 5:00 PM.  Applicants must be in the ETCOG 14-county service area, which includes Anderson, Camp, Cherokee, Gregg, Harrison, Henderson, Marion, Panola, Rains, Rusk, Smith, Upshur, Van Zandt, and Wood counties.

Grant funding requests must be in support of the goals and objectives of the ETCOG Regional Solid Waste Management Plan. Eligible public entities that may apply for funds are: 1) Cities; 2) Counties; 3) Public Schools and School Districts (excluding universities and other post-secondary educational institutions); and 4) General and Special Law Districts created as political subdivisions of the state, with the authority and responsibility for water quality protection or municipal solid waste management, including river authorities. 

 

Eligible project categories are: 1) Local Enforcement- This category consists of projects which contribute to the prevention of illegal dumping. These projects may include programs to investigate illegal dumping problems, educate the public on illegal dumping laws, and prosecute violators. These programs may also include activities such as monitoring collection and transport through a manifest system to enforce laws pertaining to the illegal disposal of liquid wastes; 2) Source Reduction and Recycling; 3) Citizen’s Collection Stations and “Small” Registered Transfer Stations; 4) Educational and Training Projects- Educational components are encouraged under the other categories in order to better ensure public participation in projects; those educational components should be funded as part of those projects and not separately under this category. This category may include “stand-alone” educational projects dealing with a variety of solid waste management topics;  5) Community Cleanup Events; 6) Technical Studies; 7) Household Hazardous Waste Management; and 8) Local Solid Waste Management Plans.

 

Application documents are available online at www.etcog.org/solid-waste. Interested applicants may contact ETCOG’s Community Services Manager, Julie Burnfield, at (903) 218-6436 for questions or to obtain application documents.  

 

ETCOG Regional Solid Waste Management Plan

The purpose of the Plan is to provide guidelines for current and future solid waste management to local governments in the region. The State requires that the Regional Plan give preference, to the maximum extent economically and technologically feasible, to the hierarchy of management methods for solid waste, from the most preferred to the lease preferred:

Source reduction and minimization of waste

Reuse or recycling of waste

Treatment to destroy or reprocess waste for energy or resource recovery; and Land disposal