TCEQ asks Texans to reduce, recycle

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and Keep Texas Beautiful are celebrating Texas Recycles Day today by asking Texans to make recycling part of their daily household routine.

This year's theme, 4R Future: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rebuy, calls attention to how most commonly discarded household items can be reclaimed and regenerated into usable products.

"You can't discard the fact that Texans dispose of more than 29 million tons of trash, or just over seven pounds of waste, per person, per day," said TCEQ Chairman Kathleen Hartnett White. "Almost all of this trash can be recycled into useful products, keeping it out of our landfills."

"Recycling and conservation are important issues in Texas today," said TCEQ Commissioner Larry R. Soward. "By manufacturing more products from recycled materials instead of raw materials, we can conserve energy, conserve natural resources and reduce wastes in the process."

Texas was home to the first organized statewide recycles day in 1993, and became the model for the first nationally observed America Recycles Day in 1997.

Last year, more than 4,000 volunteers at Texas Recycles Day events collected over 580,000 lbs. of recycled materials.

"Texas was at the forefront of this effort and we will continue be a leader through our education and awareness efforts," said TCEQ Commissioner Martin A. Hubert. "Through regular, daily activities, such as recycling, we can conserve our natural resources and keep Texas beautiful." For more information on

Texas Recycles Day activities planned for your area, or to learn more about how you can recycle in your home, visit the Texas Recycles Day Web site h t t p : / / w w w. k t b . o rg / p r o - grams/TRD/index.html .

For a free copy of Environmental Four Rs for the Home: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rebuy and the What Do I Do With It Now? A Quick Guide to Recycling Resources, visit the TCEQ publications Web site: http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/cgi -bin/comm_exec/publications. pl