The Austin Parks and Recreation Department’s Wildlife Austin Program helped the city earn the National Wildlife Federation’s Community Wildlife Habitat certification. By calling Austin residents to action, hundreds of sites became certified, including 600 homes, a hazardous waste facility, and City Hall. The garden at Parks and Recreation’s main office received special recognition as a Best of Texas Habitat site for using native plants, providing wildlife food and water sources, and practicing several resource conservation measures. Austin now has a grand total of more than 950 certified habitats and became the nation’s largest NWF-certified Community Wildlife Habitat.

The Recycling Club quickly took the lead on developing an extensive recycling program at the school, which involved educating students and staff about the benefits of recycling and how to do it properly. After finding that the cafeteria threw away about 25 bags of trash each day, the students decided to hold a “No Styrofoam Day” and won a grant to support the effort by creating brochures and replacing all Styrofoam and plastic products that day with compostable ones. They plan to keep moving on projects like these.

The more than 10,000 runners that this race attracts each year all register electronically and receive no paper waste. There is onsite composting, water-stops using onsite tap water instead of plastic water jugs, solar powered sound, and at the finish line, runners receive compostable bowls of soup without spoons. Runner’s World Magazine called the marathon the “Greenest Race in North America.”