Guest Post – from Stacy Guidry

There are all sorts of opportunities to get free t-shirts around Austin and Travis County. Just think of all the music festivals, high tech launch parties, political rallies, marathons, and kids events where t-shirts are not only a main marketing tool, but a commemorative way folks can show pride in helping the community.

When our company, Texas Zero Waste Strategies, humbly participated yesterday in the annual Zero Waste forum hosted by Travis County Conserve and the State of Texas Alliance for Recycling called S.P.A.R.K. (Supporting Partnerships And Recycling Knowledge), we were thrilled to discover what the county is doing to divert textiles from area landfills through the T-shirts for Hunger program!

T-shirts for Hunger is a collaboration between the Travis County Conserve department, the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Health and Human Services, and Veteran’s Services in support of the Travis County Community Food Pantries.

Gently used t-shirts are collected from the community at several Travis County locations and transported to female jail inmates who break down the t-shirts and upcycle them into reusable bags that are distributed to county food pantries.

The women inmates not only gain job skills, but they receive credits toward reducing their sentences. When inmates can gain pride and dignity through new work skills, help people in need, and keep tons of valuable textiles out of landfills, it sounds like a winning Zero Waste strategy to me!

If you would like to donate t-shirts or reusable bags to this program, please email conserve@traviscountytx.gov!

About the author – Stacy Guidry is the Founder and President of Texas Zero Waste Strategies. She is also a cohost on Shades of Green environmental talk radio show and serves on the City of Austin’s Zero Waste Advisory Commission.