Together, We’re Expanding Recycling Access Across Texas
Since 2021, Keep Texas Beautiful and Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages (CCSWB) have partnered to celebrate Texas Recycles Day by funding community recycling projects that make a lasting impact.
Now in its fourth year, the Texas Recycles Day Grant Program has supported dozens of local projects—helping communities reduce waste, improve recycling infrastructure, and inspire Texans to take action for a cleaner, greener state.
Congratulations to Our 2025 Texas Recycles Day Grant Recipients!
We’re proud to announce the 2025 grant winners! Each of these projects demonstrates innovation, community engagement, and a commitment to recycling education. The 2025 Texas Recycles Day Grant recipients are taking innovative approaches to recycling—from expanding campus recycling access to launching local awareness campaigns and improving collection infrastructure. Each project demonstrates how local action can lead to measurable statewide impact.
Explore the map: Click below to see where each project is making a difference across the state. Select a pin to learn more about the local impact in each community.
City of Ballinger
Powering Local Recycling Operations
In Ballinger, a small investment will make a big difference. The city’s recycling center currently operates a press for cardboard but has been unable to use a second press—designed for aluminum and plastics—due to lack of electrical wiring. With Texas Recycles Day funding, the center will install the necessary wiring to bring the second press online, expanding local processing capacity, reducing landfill waste, and improving overall efficiency.
This project demonstrates how even modest infrastructure investments can help small communities strengthen their recycling programs and keep valuable materials in circulation.
City of Plano
Educating Residents to Reduce Contamination
The City of Plano is launching a targeted outreach campaign to improve the quality of materials placed in residential recycling carts. The initiative will use educational magnets, stickers, flyers, and can coolers to remind residents which items are recyclable—and which are not.
Keep Mesquite Beautiful
Recycle Right Mesquite: Expanding Access Through Youth Leadership
Keep Mesquite Beautiful is launching Recycle Right Mesquite: Green Team Education & Access Initiative to expand PET plastic and aluminum can recycling through student-led outreach and improved infrastructure. Building on KMB’s long history of community engagement, the project equips Mesquite School Green Teams to serve as recycling ambassadors while installing dual recycling and trash bins with clear, bilingual-friendly signage. This combined approach will address contamination, improve access in underserved neighborhoods, and strengthen long-term recycling habits among local families.
With 37 years of experience and more than 1,000 volunteers mobilized in 2024 alone, KMB has a strong foundation in environmental education and community action.
Keep Sugar Land Beautiful
Reducing Recycling Contamination Through Education
Keep Sugar Land Beautiful is tackling recycling contamination through a two-step education and outreach campaign. The first phase will produce and distribute three short educational videos explaining key topics:
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What Is Recycling Contamination?
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Avoid Wish Cycling
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Accepted Items in Sugar Land’s Residential Program
The second phase will provide residents with a refrigerator magnet listing accepted items and recycling tips for quick reference at home. The campaign will reach residents through social media, homeowner associations, and the KSLB website, helping families make confident, informed recycling choices.
Keep McAllen Beautiful
Expanding Recycling at South Texas College
Keep McAllen Beautiful is partnering with South Texas College to expand the campus recycling program beyond paper and cardboard. With support from the City of McAllen Recycling Center, the project will introduce 40 new color-coded recycling receptacles near vending machines and in common areas across 20 main buildings, making it easier for students, faculty, and staff to recycle PET bottles and metal cans.
The initiative also includes the formation of a student-led recycling and environmental services club to maintain bins, educate peers, and promote sustainability on campus. Serving 26,000 students and 900 faculty and staff, this project will help cultivate lifelong recycling habits and environmental awareness among the next generation.
These projects reflect the power of community-led action.
Through expanding recycling access to sparking new habits through creative education, our 2025 grantees are helping Texans rethink waste and protect the places we love. We can’t wait to see the impact these projects make in the year ahead—thank you to everyone keeping Texas beautiful, one bin at a time.
To learn more about the impact of past Texas Recycles Day grant-funded projects, see our previous post: Celebrating Texas Recycles Day Grants with Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages
