ACTION ALERT - SEND YOUR MESSAGE NOW
Urge Dallas Officials to Strengthen the Zero Waste Plan
Last year the Dallas City Council adopted an ambitious long-term recycling plan that seeks to reduce our waste by 85% by 2040. However, it contained weak provisions that would have delayed significant action for over a decade, so Council members instructed city staff to make important changes before finishing the plan. There have been some major improvements over the past few months, but it still isn’t as strong as it should be. Mayor Rawlings and the City Council will vote this Wednesday, Feb. 27th, so we need you to send them a message now: We want the right to recycle!
We need to strengthen the plan to pass a "universal recycling ordinance" covering apartments and businesses sooner than is currently proposed. Other Texas cities such as Ft. Worth, San Antonio, San Marcos and Austin have already started doing this, but the current proposal wouldn't give us the right to recycle at apartments and businesses in Dallas until 2019. We would have 5 more years of voluntary goals before setting a comprehensive policy. We've already had voluntary programs in place since Mayor Miller's recycling task force in 2005. This would put Dallas 6-8 years behind other Texas cities. We should have a comprehensive policy in place much sooner—instead of just starting that process in 2019, we would be finishing it by then.
If Mayor Rawlings and City Council members hear from you, they may move to make this plan stronger before it's final. Adopting the plan the way it is now would be a real missed opportunity. Please send your message to the City Council now.
This plan is hardly perfect, but it still represents only the second Zero Waste Plan anywhere in Texas, and provides us and our allies with new opportunities for big changes when it comes to our waste. But our work is just getting started, and we're going to need to continue pressing Dallas officials to do the right thing. A little encouragement now will certainly help.
Send your message to Mayor Rawlings and the City Council now.
