Page 24 - SeptOct2021Vol33No3

STATEWIDE
Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful

Hits Significant Milestones

Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful KTNRB Executive Director, said the cleanups is a visual call to make a change
(KTNRB) has hit its first-time milestone new sponsors’ support is accelerating in how we as Americans consume our
of 80,000 lbs. of trash removed from the that amount, allowing that target to be beverages,” Gibi said. She estimated 70
Tennessee River watershed within a year, extended to 125,000 lbs. percent of trash bags filled by volunteers
and has surpassed its lifetime milestone Yeti is a global designer, retailer and consist of throwaway drink containers,
of 250,000 lbs. of trash removed since distributor of popular and innovative noting that is a very modest estimate.
its formation. The accelerated progress outdoor products, known for its reusable A recent study by German scientist Dr.
was aided by 2,500 KTNRB enthusiastic options that replace the need for single- Andreas Fath has found the Tennessee
volunteers working with the organization use products. Contributing a $2,500 River to be the most microplastic-
since 2016. sponsorship, iSustain Recycling is a polluted river in the world studied to
Yeti has become the $10,000 title national sustainability services company date.
sponsor of the organization’s new, more processing over 151 million pounds of This summer, a total of 25 volunteers
ambitious goal to remove 125,000 lbs. recyclable products. helped to remove 5,000 lbs. of trash
of trash in 2021. Originally, KTNRB’s The announcement came during over a weekend in Soddy Daisy,
goal was to remove 100,000 lbs. of ‘Plastic Free Month,’ celebrated in Tennessee in a two-part cleanup series
trash in 2021, but Kathleen Gibi, July. “The litter pulled at our river called ‘Chickamauga Lake Cleanup

24 TPW September/October 2021