As the only database tracking detailed litter information for Texas, this tool will revolutionize how government entities, volunteers and nonprofits collect and report cleanup data.
Keep Texas Beautiful, Black Cat GIS and HARC announce the launch of the first-ever Texas Litter Database, a project funded by The Garver Black Hilyard Family Foundation. Accessible through any smart device or computer, this online tool available at https://txlitter.org/ will enable municipal employees, volunteers and others to better track and analyze litter collected during cleanups.
In 2017, HARC helped convene key stakeholders representing over 25 local nonprofit organizations and government agencies to develop a Galveston Bay Watershed Trash and Litter Action Plan (https://www.donttrashagoodthing.org/) that addresses the problem of trash and litter in the region’s bayous, on its beaches, and in Galveston Bay. The Action Plan also identified the need for a central database that organizes trash and marine debris data such as location, quantity, and type of trash.
Maia Corbitt, Director of Mission and Giving for the Garver Black Hilyard Family Foundation, says “The tools to analyze and compare data from all the great work being done to clean up litter, will help organizations and advocates build solutions that prevent litter in the first place. The Foundation is really excited to support this project.”
Since 2019, HARC has been working with the Garver Black Hilyard Family Foundation, Keep Texas Beautiful, and Black Cat GIS to develop new field methodologies to generate much-needed data documenting litter and trash in streams, bayous, reservoirs, and bays of Texas. The team then worked together to develop the first-of-its-kind database that can be used to promote efforts to reduce, remove, and research trash and litter in waterways in the region and beyond.
"We have really enjoyed working with HARC and the Foundation on this project,” says Sara Nichols, KTB Program Director. “We are excited to be able to provide a single repository for Texas litter data that is accessible and can be used for future policy, programmatic and educational purposes."
“This project will provide a unique opportunity to better track and report litter collection efforts,” states Dr. Stephanie Glenn, HARC Program Director. “The partnership behind the project is a science-based effort that will result in metrics to inform actionable science.”
“The Texas Litter Database will encourage people to get out and explore waterways around their home. You can’t grasp the scale of the problem until you see it yourself first-hand. Citizen scientists will be contributing invaluable data to help guide litter management and policy decisions, all while making their little corner of Texas cleaner and healthier one cleanup at a time,” says Amanda Hackney of Black Cat GIS.