​The mission of Keep Odessa Beautiful is to empower Odessans to recycle, prevent litter, and beautify our community. Our goal is to educate on the importance of proper waste disposal, waste reduction, and the conservation of our natural resources by encouraging our citizens to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

We promote and coordinate litter prevention programs and events in the community to encourage cleanliness and community pride!

We support beautification by planting trees, flowers, plants, shrubbery and the use of our native landscape.

One way we spread awareness and engagement of our organization is through our Recycle Fashion Show. Our first Recycle Fashion Show was introduced in 2015 at the Ector County Coliseum, a program that promotes waste reduction and the conservation of our natural resources through the creation of fashion. The project was well received by our community. After two years of using this event to educate on the need to instill a recycling culture in our community, we launched this fashion show as our first fundraiser.

In supporting the revitalization of Downtown Odessa, we decided to hold our first fundraiser fashion show in 2017 at The Rose Building, premiere event venue in Downtown Odessa, TX. As we had predicted, the event had an amazing turnout!

Keep Odessa Beautiful hosted the Fourth Annual Recycle Fashion Show on Friday, September 20, 2018 at The Rose Building and it was another success story.

Recycle Fashion Show is a fun and creative way to focus on the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling. There is no entry fee to participate in our Recycle Fashion Show. Designers and models must be eight years of age or older. All participants 17 years old and younger must have parent/guardian signature of consent to participate. The designers must submit an online application and agree on the rules and guidelines to participate.

Judging:

1. 50% recycled material

2.Design

3.Execution

Prizes:

1^stplace – $500

2^ndplace – $250

3^rdplace – $150

We had so many great designs that 2^ndand 3^rdplace tied! There is a mandatory pre-judging, rehearsal and photoshoot the day before the fashion show. This allows judges to meet models and designers. This year, judges were able to interview designers to find out what motivated them to participate in a Recycle Fashion Show. It was so rewarding to hear designers say their motivation was to create awareness and show that everything we own can be re-used and has a value.

The support we have received from the entire community with this program has been outstanding! City of Odessa Mayor David Turner, City Manager Michael Marrero, Council and departments, businesses, organizations, schools, churches and citizens have been very supportive by providing financial funding and participation in the event. 

Although Keep Odessa Beautiful has been hosting the Recycle Fashion Show for only four years, the awareness to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle in our community has increased tremendously!

We will continue to work diligently to make this program grow! Our vision is to encourage every citizen in Odessa to be part of the solution in making our city a better place to live, work, and play in!

​Blog Post Written By Claudia Ortega of Keep Odessa Beautiful