Left to right: KTnRB Executive Director Kathleen Gibi; Keep America Beautiful President & CEO Jennifer Lawson; and KTNRB Programs Manager Kendall Mayers
Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful (KTnRB) was recently awarded its 3rd national award since becoming a 501c3 nonprofit in 2018. KTnRB is the recipient of the Keep America Beautiful® 2023 National Innovation Award for its Cigarette Litter Prevention project created in partnership with Dollywood. Winners were announced during the Keep America Beautiful National Conference held in San Diego, Ca. on February 12, 2024.
Since the partnership with Dollywood in 2021, the program has led to plastic getting recycled from more than 500,000 cigarette butts. The project also made Dollywood the 1st theme park in the world to recycle the plastic from every cigarette butt collected in guest-facing receptacles on its property.
Collecting cigarette butts before they’re thrown on the ground at Dollywood saves them from getting washed into the Pigeon River, which runs through the center of the theme park and is a tributary of the Tennessee River.
The Keep America Beautiful Innovation Awards honor affiliates that have developed innovative partnerships and programs to advance the mission of Keep America Beautiful. The awards spotlight true innovation that includes unique ideas and methods that overcome challenges.
Partners involved in the cigarette plastic recycling program at Dollywood pose on a bench made of the plastic recycled from collected cigarette butts and next to one of the receptacles that collect cigarette butts at Dollywood.
“Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful is proud to work with Dollywood on a project that fosters a non-traditional approach to recycling as well as protecting our waterways,” said Kathleen Gibi, KTnRB Executive Director. “Dollywood continues to immerse its efforts in giving back to the community and we’re so grateful to the their staff as well as our collaborating partners who have made this trailblazing initiative possible.”
KTnRB was able to provide Dollywood with 26 art-wrapped cigarette receptacles through a collaboration of grants and sponsorships from Keep America Beautiful, Keep Tennessee Beautiful, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and the American Eagle Foundation.
TerraCycle, an international recycling company, covers the cost of shipping the collected cigarette butts to their facility so that the plastic microfibers in the cigarette filters can be recycled into outdoor plastic furniture. Two park benches donated by TerraCycle and made from recycled cigarette plastic are now installed at Dollywood near the theme park’s bald eagle exhibit.
“Congratulations to the KAB affiliates, state agencies and individuals chosen as our 2023 award recipients. Your efforts serve as a testament to leadership and the innovation necessary to create cleaner, greener, and more beautiful communities, revitalizing a sense of pride within communities across the country,” said Jennifer Lawson, President and CEO of Keep America Beautiful.
In addition to working with Dollywood on the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program, KTnRB also has over 1,000 art-wrapped cigarette receptacles installed at marinas, campgrounds, and tourism sites in all seven states of the Tennessee River watershed.
This is the project’s 2nd award. In August 2023, the Tennessee Recycling Coalition named KTnRB ‘Nonprofit Recycler of the Year’ for the cigarette plastic recycling project at Dollywood.
For more information about joining Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful’s Cigarette Litter Prevention Program or to join litter cleanup efforts on the Tennessee River watershed, please visit www.KeepTNRiverBeautiful.org.
