Proposed environmental services increase to address litter in Fort Worth

Fort Worth is one of the largest cities in the U.S. and continues to grow rapidly. With all of the benefits that come with exciting growth, there are also challenges like litter and illegal dumping. According to the 2021 Community Survey, the majority are residents not satisfied with the appearance of our city.

A clean city promotes quality of life, economic development and safe neighborhoods. As part of our FY23 budget process, we are considering an increase to the Environmental Protection Fund to help us expand our litter control programs such as street sweeping, homeless camp abatement and litter abatement contracted crews.

To learn more, click here:

• Proposal
• Environmental Protection Fee

Let us know your thoughts:

• Take this survey:?English?or?Spanish
• Email [email protected]

We would love to receive feedback for proposals to expand litter control programs. Join us at a one of our public meetings:

If you are unable to attend one of these meetings, that?s okay!? There are many other ways to offer feedback.?Contact the mayor's office or find your councilmember.

To keep up with all FY23 budget updates, please click here.

City launching new recycling campaign

The City of Fort Worth is launching a new campaign to educate residents on items they should or should not be putting in their recycling cart. The campaign name, W.A.I.T., is an acronym that stands for ?Where am I tossing??, and is meant to encourage residents to pause before they throw items in the wrong cart, decreasing ?wishcycling?. Wishcycling is putting materials you hope can be recycled into the recycling bin even if they are not accepted in the residential curbside recycling program.

?Almost thirty percent of the material that goes to our local recycling processing facility is contaminated,? ? said Christian Harper, Contract Services Administrator, Solid Waste Services - ?and most people don?t know that non-recyclable items tossed in your blue?recycle cart cost the city and residents five times more to process than if those items had been tossed in the brown cart. Our goal is to engage residents in recycling right. Once that happens, we hope to see residents recycling more of the correct things.?

To check if certain items are recyclable, City of Fort Worth residents can?check out the Waste Wizard on the city?s website, or download the Fort Worth Garbage and Recycling app from Google Play or the App Store. So next time you?re ready to toss something, WAIT ? and when in doubt, throw it out.

Litter education in Fort Worth gets a new look Litter management is a very high priority for our city and its elected officials. Our mission is to eliminate litter in Fort Worth through active litter prevention, reduction, and enforcement initiatives.?Specific goals are controlling litter at the source, and building resources to abate it.? New litter education efforts are being launched this month with a fresh look to engage and encourage residents to take action to prevent litter, properly dispose of their trash, control common litter sources, pick up litter, and report litter violations. "Not everyone is aware of all sources of litter ? says Cody Whittenburg, Code Compliance Assistant Director, Environmental Health Services - "It?s more than someone dropping litter on the ground. It is wind-blown trash from open or overflowing street cans or dumpsters, commercial loading/unloading docks, unsecured loads in pickups or moving vehicles, and uncontrolled construction sites or retail activities, among other common sources of litter.?We wanted to produce highly-visible, creative messaging that would reach all ages and is easily understood, so that everyone can do their part to resolve litter issues in the city." Residents have many options to help our fight against litter: * Volunteer for litter cleanups through the city?s Keep Fort Worth Beautiful program. * Report littering on surface streets, parks, private property, and public property to the city using the MyFW App or the 817-392-1234 call center. * Report littering on freeways to TXDOT using this form?or calling 817-370-6500. Have a creative idea on how to encourage the community to stop it, report it, or pick it up? Let us know!

Composting Corner

The City of Fort Worth Residential Food Waste Composting Program is rapidly growing! We currently have 15 food scraps collection sites conveniently located throughout the city, and one more in the works. Join our fight against food waste today!

Learn more about the Residential Food Waste Composting Program:

Subscriber Updates Thank you to our current subscribers for choosing to make a difference and encouraging other residents to sign up for our program! We currently have nearly 1,900 households subscribed! On August 15, 2022 we will be adding our 16th collection site, this time serving the community on the east side. New site address: Ellis Park - 3400 S. Riverside Dr., 76119 Send us pictures of you or your family separating your food scraps at home, or dropping your food waste at one of our sites, and be featured in our upcoming newsletters and Facebook page! Email them to?[email protected].

For questions or comments about residential composting, please email?[email protected]?or call 817-392-2046 to speak with one of our team members. The Keep Fort Worth Beautiful team is ready to assist you!

Trinity River waterwheels design progresses

It takes a lot of work to design a floatable trash-collecting?waterwheel, and we're so excited that ours is 90% complete! An access ramp is being added to the plans before they're reviewed, so we can cross that?design?finish line soon!

We are still accepting donations! If you would like to take part in Fort Worth?s vision and become a waterwheel sponsor,?visit our website?to check out sponsorship levels. Donations for the waterwheels can be made online or by check to?Keep Fort Worth Beautiful.?or through our 501(c)(3) partner?Streams & Valleys.?Become a part of the litter solution in Fort Worth today!?A very special thank you to our newest donors:

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Platinum Sponsor

Nicholas Martin Jr. Family Foundation

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Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsor

Renfro Foods

Upcoming Events

September 1

SAVE THE DATE!

Neighborhood Litter Stomp Registration Opens

Stay tuned!

September 10, 17, 24

TRWD Trash Bash

Register here for the date & location convenient to you!

September 17 -

7:30 - 9:30 a.m.

Fairmount Trash Pirates Litter Cleanup Event

No sign up needed. Meet at Fire Station Park, 1601 Lipscomb St, 76104

Click here for more info.

Help us plan for future service opportunities!

The City of Fort Worth Solid Waste team wants your input on how we can benefit from volunteers supporting Drop-Off Stations and assisting with the removal of litter in high-priority areas. Take a few moments to answer a few questions. Your feedback is important to us!?Click here to take the survey!

Monitor and manage your water use

As we welcome cooler mornings and rains after this extremely long and hot summer, it is time to adjust your landscape?s watering needs. If your lawn is not already dormant due to the heat, it soon will. Review your irrigation schedule and make the necessary changes to adapt to your lawns lower watering needs. Consider operating your irrigation controller manually and follow the weekly watering advice at waterisawesome.com, which uses your zip code?s rainfall and evaporation data to determine watering amounts.

Fall is also a good time to get back outside and reassess your landscape after surviving this hot summer. If you lost plants from the extreme heat, consider replacing them with native plants. The plant search at Texas Smart Scape is a great tool to find native and adaptive plants. Consider changing your lawn to more drought tolerate grass varieties. Texas A&M Agrilife Extension has some great information to help you choose the best grass for our area. Finally, look into converting some of your garden beds to drip irrigation. Drip irrigation is the most efficient way to water our landscapes, and retrofitting sprinkler heads to drip in garden beds is the easiest place to start.

This summer was tough, but we've learned from it and can make smarter decisions in our landscape to set us up for success moving forward.

Pick it up, bag it up!

Cecil Collier, a long-time Fort Worth resident, recently noticed a problem along the Trinity Trails and near his apartment complex ? dog waste ? and became an advocate for "dooing" the right thing.

Dog waste is a huge issue when left in the environment as it introduces high bacteria content into our streams, creeks, rivers and lakes. Multiple waterbodies are labeled with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality as ?impacted? by bacteria loads and it is up to all of us to help lower bacteria levels by picking up dog waste. ?It?s up to all of us to protect the Fort?, he said.

For resources and tips on dealing with pet waste, click here.