Volunteer Cleanup Spotlights

TCU Nursing College Day of Service at Glenwood Park

TCU Nursing Leads Fort Worth Park Advocacy

Overcast and wet conditions did not stop Texas Christian University's annual Day of Service! Approximately 18,000 pounds of litter were cleaned up at Glenwood Park. 46 TCU students, 37 community volunteers, TCU faculty and staff sought to create a climate-safe neighborhood.?Along with members of the Fort Worth community, volunteers walked around the banks of the creek, picking up litter and learning about the history of Southside Fort Worth.

In partnership with TCU Nursing, School of Science and Engineering, Burnett School of Medicine, Bob Schieffer College of Communication and AddRan College of Liberal Arts, the Fort Worth Climate Safe Neighborhood Coalition hosted the park cleanup and a health fair. These events were held to help increase equitable access to safe and sustainable green spaces, advance tree equity and extend environmental knowledge throughout Fort Worth. The coalition is made up of multiple community partners: the Historic Southside Neighborhood Association (HSNA), TCU, Tarrant County Public Health, the Cross Timbers Master Naturalist Chapter, and the City of Fort Worth.?

Their next event is a celebration of Earth Day, tentatively scheduled for Saturday, April 22, 2023. If you are interested in joining the coalition, reach out to Gina Alexander, Vicki Brooks, Tammie Williams?or any of the participating partners.

City staff and residents clean up Polytechnic Heights area

Residents and City Staff?Clean up Polytechnic Heights

As part of the City of Fort Worth's Litter: Stop It! Report It! Pick It Up! campaign, the Code Compliance Department is hosting a series of monthly, special event, litter cleanups throughout the city. This month, over 40 volunteers, residents and City staff came together to help in the Polytechnic Heights area. This outstanding group dedicated their Saturday morning picking up litter from public areas in the neighborhood. As an added effort of the City's litter campaign, street sweepers conducted sweeps of the area following the cleanup event. 131 bags of litter, 50 tires and other loose debris were removed totaling 13,810 pounds of litter and debris collected.

Working together makes a huge difference! Thank you to all volunteers and staff who participated, with a special shout out to the Boys and Girls Club of Tarrant County?s Nicholas & Louella Martin branch, Texas Wesleyan Comic Club, and the University of Texas at Arlington.?

Join the next cleanup on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022 in the Carter-Riverside neighborhood. For more information, visit the KFWB Facebook event. Sign up today!

Nominations open for Neighborhood Awards

Nominate your Neighborhood Code Compliance Officer

The City of Fort Worth is accepting nominations for the 2022 Mayor?s Fort Worth Neighborhood Awards. It is a chance for registered neighborhood associations throughout the city to be recognized for their 2022 beautification projects, crime prevention programs, social events and more.

In addition to naming the Neighborhood of the Year, the City of Fort Worth will also recognize a Neighborhood Patrol Officer (NPO) of the Year, and a Code Compliance Officer of the Year. This award recognizes a Code Officer who?in addition to performing duties of investigating,?documenting and ensuring compliance with city zoning, codes, ordinances and regulations?also responds to public inquiries courteously and efficiently, maintaining positive customer service relationships at all times. Nominate your neighborhood Code Compliance Officer and NPO today!

If your volunteer group worked with a registered neighborhood association or HOA, please encourage them to apply. Awards are given for projects substantially completed in Fort Worth between Nov. 1, 2021 and Nov. 1, 2022.?

For a complete list of categories, visit the FW Neighborhood Awards webpage. Nomination and award applications deadline is 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022.

For questions, email the Community Engagement Office?or call 817-392-6201.

Defend your Drains this Holiday Season

Cease the grease! Fried turkeys, buttery foods, and gravy - Thanksgiving can be hard on not only your diet, but on your home's pipes and sewer systems.?When fats,?oils, and?grease (FOG) go down the drain, it hardens and causes sewer pipes to clog or backup. Sewage overflow can mean costly repairs for both residents and municipalities.

This year, take the pledge and participate in the Holiday Grease Roundup. Instead of washing your fats, oils, or grease down the drain, recycle?it for free at one of the four City of Fort Worth Drop-Off Stations or the?Environmental Collection Center!

Congratulations Contest Winners

In celebration of America Recycles Day, Keep Fort Worth Beautiful held a variety of fun, recycling-related events and activities through Nov. 15, 2022. This included a neighborhood recycling competition where residents were asked to "Take a Selfie" and submit photos displaying their blue, recycling cart and its contents being free of contamination. It was exciting to see the participation throughout the city and that so many residents and their households were recycling right.?

Congratulations to the "Take a Selfie" Neighborhood Recycling Competition winners!

First place:
Shanna Cisneros of Arlington Heights

Second place:
Michael Riley and family

These winners stood out because of the multiple entries they submitted, each a shining example of proper recycling. Congratulations on making a difference and for teaching a younger generation to rethink waste into resources!?

A big thank you to everyone who participated in the Fort Worth Recycles Day activities!?

For more information about recycling in Fort Worth, including acceptable items, visit our recycling website.

Materials Recycling Facility Tour

Our tour of the Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) was also a success!? Slots for the tour filled up fast, with residents eager to?learn how Fort Worth's residential recyclables are separated, processed, and baled. It was great to see all the interest the tour received. Keep Fort Worth Beautiful is now working with Republic Services on scheduling future tours to accommodate everyone who signed up and were added to the wait list.

We encourage Fort Worth residents to continue to?reduce contamination in your recycle bin. To check if an item is recyclable,?use the Waste Wizard on the City?s website, or download the Fort Worth Garbage & Recycling app from Google Play or the App Store.

Composting Corner

The City of Fort Worth Residential Food Waste Composting Program is rapidly growing. We now have 17 food scraps collection sites conveniently located throughout the city.?

Compost your Thanksgiving food scraps

Before you toss your?holiday?food scraps?in the trash, consider an alternative. When food piles up in a landfill and begins to decompose, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas that is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. By contrast, composting your food waste actually benefits the environment. When you join our Residential Food Waste Composting Program, you reduce your food waste without having to do the composting yourself!?Learn more or sign up today.

WAIT! Where are you tossing holiday waste?

Recycle Bottles and Cans

Sharing a meal and?holiday?traditions with family and friends can be so much fun! When the celebration is over, where are you tossing all the bottles and cans? Make sure to recycle?them all in your blue, recycling cart.

Toss Packing Materials

'Tis the season for?holiday shopping. When new electronics, appliances and gifts are opened, where are you tossing all the packing materials? Polystyrene blocks, packing peanuts, padded mailers, bubble wraps, and plastic air packs all belong in your brown, garbage?cart.

Recycle Holiday Mail

Gift catalogs, greeting card envelopes, store flyers and postcards - holiday mail can pile up quick. Where are you tossing the extra volume from your mailbox? Place it in the blue, recycling cart.

Toss Gift Wrapping Supplies

Finally, did you know that the fancier the wrapping paper, the less?recyclable?it is? If it is glossy, glittery, foiled, or plastic-lined, it is unrecyclable and goes in the brown, garbage?cart. Better yet, make it a habit to?reuse?gift boxes, bags, and bows. Click here for?ecofriendly?gift-wrapping ideas that can reduce your?holiday?waste.

Conserve water this Holiday season

The holidays are coming up! Need ideas for presents? Consider buying water-saving gifts. Here are a few ideas:

Wireless Irrigation Controller -?Did you know that irrigation controllers can easily be updated to include a wireless controller? Most connect with your phone, allowing you to switch your irrigation controller on/off and set timing for irrigations run from the touch of your hand!

Showerhead -?High efficiency showerheads have improved substantially over the past two decades. Most are almost aesthetically indistinguishable from regular showerheads.

Aerators -?Adding aerators to the end of your faucet is another simple way to reduce water use. Most modern faucets already come with aerators, which should be switched out regularly.

Rain and Freeze sensor -?Rain and Freeze sensors are required by ordinance. If you don?t already have one, you should! They are a great investment to an irrigation system, and will override your irrigation program if it rains or if there are freezing temperatures.

Think outside the box this year for presents! Look for WaterSense labeled fixtures and appliances to identify products that use less water. Buy your loved one a gift that helps everyone by saving water and money.

Upcoming Events

Solid waste collections will be operating on a modified schedule.

REMINDER:

There will be no garbage,

recycling, yard waste,

and bulk collections on

Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24.

Operations will be on a

modified schedule until

November 28.

December 10 -

8 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Carter-Riverside Special Event Litter Cleanup

Meet at the Riverside Community Center at?3700 E. Belknap St., 76102

Click here for more info?or here to register.

All litter supplies and water will be provided.

How does a waterwheel work?

Waterwheels are powered by renewable energy.

What makes waterwheels special? They are powered by renewable energy on board, and no hydrocarbons are used to generate its electric power.

Wondering how they will rake floatable trash out of our Trinity River and turn the conveyor system with just?solar power? The solar panels generate the electricity to move the wheel, which in turn generates the hydropower to move the raking and conveyor systems that collect the litter and debris. It then drops them in the dumpster at the back of the waterwheel platform. On slow-moving water flow days, the solar-powered pump still does the job.

Watch this video to learn more about this simple but amazing technology, and learn more about our Trinity River Waterwheels Initiative here.

Take our partner survey!

Take the?Best Practices for Inclusive and Intentional Public Engagement Initiative (BPIIPE) online community survey, available now until Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022.?Share your preferences for receiving information about TxDOT projects, providing feedback, and attending their engagement events.