Last October, 42 Oris employees participated in a cleanup during Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month, removing 4,280 lbs. of trash.

Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful (KTNRB) is seeking volunteers for four cleanups beginning October 1, 2022, that will be held in three states during October, which is celebrated as ‘Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month presented by Oris.’

Volunteers will be taken out on five 30-foot john boats to clean shorelines identified with large deposits of litter. Each of the four cleanups will take place in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky along the Tennessee River in locations that have been impacted by flooding, tornados, or both in recent years.

This year, Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month has a $15,000 title sponsorship from the international Swiss watch-making company, Oris. Each volunteer that participates will receive free swag from both KTNRB and Oris.

“Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month is always a big difference-making campaign, and we’re proud to have an international, water quality-minded company like Oris demonstrating leadership to others for this important cause,” said Kathleen Gibi, KTNRB Executive Director.

Last year, the company’s 42 employees from Oris’ North American office participated in a cleanup with KTNRB, pulling out 4,280 lbs. of trash. Oris recently reached a climate-neutral status after achieving net zero greenhouse emissions, meaning that Oris’ gas emissions put out are equal to or less than the emissions they save.

A photo taken in October 2021 on Watts Bar Lake: Volunteers pose with the trash they removed during Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month, a total of 5,584 lbs. of trash removed.

Gibi said that the celebratory month is often the ‘bread and butter’ of their trash totals and that the group is staged to easily reach their 115,000-pound goal for the year with the upcoming cleanups.

The month will also include proclamations from governors and mayors across the Tennessee River watershed. Additionally, those who are unable to participate in a cleanup can still help protect the Tennessee River by making a pledge in KTNRB’s #Pledge4Rivers campaign during October.

“We're thrilled to continue our partnership with KTNRB as part of Oris' Change For The Better Initiative,” said V.J. Geronimo, Oris CEO North America. “By partnering for four cleanups in 2022, we want to do our part to help keep the Tennessee River Beautiful!"

RIVER CLEANUPS

KTNRB is partnering once again with Living Lands & Waters (LL&W), a national nonprofit that cleans North American rivers and who will bring three of their 30-foot aluminum boats, adding to KTNRB’s two boats so that even more volunteers can participate.

The cleanups during Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month are scheduled as follows:

Saturday, Oct. 1 Knoxville, TN | Fort Loudoun Lake

Sunday, Oct. 2 Chattanooga, TN | Chickamauga Lake

Friday, Oct. 21 Hardin, TN/Iuka, MS | Pickwick Lake

Saturday, Oct. 22 Benton, KY | Kentucky Lake

Volunteers may register for any cleanup at www.KeepTNRiverBeautiful.org/upcomingcleanups.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation’s Nobody Trashes Tennessee campaign has funded the cost of contracting LL&W to participate for the cleanups in Tennessee and TVA is covering the contracting costs for the cleanups held in Mississippi and Kentucky.

PARTNERSHIPS & PROCLAMATIONS

Gibi said that it was the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), that originally challenged KTNRB to celebrate an awareness month for the Tennessee River. The awareness month was launched in the state of Tennessee in 2018 and has now expanded into a seven-state awareness campaign in 2022.

Proclamations from governors and mayors within the Tennessee River watershed are pursued during the month. Last year, four governors and four mayors issued proclamations for Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month.

TVA and Keep Tennessee Beautiful (funded by the Tennessee Department of Transportation) were the founding partners who initiated the formation of KTNRB as a nonprofit that would champion support and protection for the 652-mile Tennessee River. Since forming, KTNRB has rallied nearly 2,700 volunteers to remove over 416,000 pounds of trash from the Tennessee River watershed.

As KTRWB Month is celebrated in different states, Keep Tennessee Beautiful, Keep Mississippi Beautiful, and the Land Between the Lakes are serving as acting co-organizers. Local nonprofits such as other Keep America Beautiful affiliates and the Friends of Land Between the Lakes are also supporting partners.

#PLEDGE4RIVERS CAMPAIGN

The #Pledge4Rivers campaign offers an opportunity for those who want to help the Tennessee River watershed during ‘Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month,’ but are unable attend a cleanup. The program allows individuals to pledge to end their consumption of one single-use item for a year, preventing the chance for litter existing in the first place.

KTNRB launched this program during the COVID quarantine in 2020, and pledges made in 2021 alone saved 16,432 single-use items from becoming waste, potentially winding up as litter.

To make a pledge for the Tennessee River, visit www.KeepTNRiverBeautiful.org/pledge4rivers.

“We love celebrating this month because it brings individuals, groups, organizations, elected officials, and even international companies together in prioritizing our precious river,” said Gibi. “Our slogan is ‘Your River. Your Impact.’ and it’s true—when it comes to our waterways, you get what you give, so it’s inspiring to see so many taking the right steps.”

For more information on Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month presented by Oris, visit www.KeepTNRiverBeautiful.org/ktnrwb-month.