TENNESSEE, USA — Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful partnered with Johnsonville State Historic Park in a three-part river cleanup series last weekend at which 25 volunteers helped to remove 9,208lbs. of trash from the Tennessee River.
Volunteers hopped in KTNRB’s 25-foot aluminum workboat launching from Pebble Isle Marina to go clean nearby shorelines at cleanups over the course of three days.
Kathleen Gibi, KTNRB Executive Director, said the volunteer turnout for the public clean up more than tripled this time around compared to their October visit, and that three river miles were adopted by volunteers who wanted to keep up the work on their own after this weekend.
The cleanup series took place over the course of three days.
When KTNRB hosted a cleanup partnered with the state park in October, they partnered with the national nonprofit Living Lands & Waters who brought along their five 30-foot workboats for transporting volunteers and the litter they collected.
At that cleanup, volunteers removed 4,811 lbs. of trash. Combined with the January cleanups, that’s a grand total of 14,019 lbs. of trash removed from four cleanups held at the same area within a four-month span.
Humphreys County Sanitation donated a large, 30-yard roll-off dumpster that Pebble Isle Marina allowed being staged in their parking lot.
By the end of the cleanup series, the dumpster was completely full.
KTNRB is contemplating a potential cleanup weekend in April.
Individuals, organizations, and companies can officially adopt a Tennessee River mile by visiting www.KeepTNRiverBeautiful.org/adopt.
Participants in the free program receive cleaning supplies, KTNRB swag, and a sign with their name declaring their river mile adoption.
