In what turned out to be a series of cleanups following recent natural disasters, 198 volunteers removed 46,605 lbs. (more than 23 tons) of trash during Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful’s 7th annual Tennessee River Grand Slam Cleanup Series.
The series aims to host one cleanup in each of the four states touched by the main stem of the Tennessee River: Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky. The total weight pulled this year beat the previous series record by over 10,000 lbs.
“It’s great to see how far we’ve been able to come with this cleanup series to make the biggest impact possible from an incredible and growing network of volunteers and partners when the river’s surrounding communities have really needed it following recent storms,” said Kathleen Gibi, executive director for Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful.
“The volunteers’ work isn’t just beautifying the area; it’s making sure that our source of drinking water is healthy; that an ecosystem crucial to our economy is protected; that property values stay up; that one of the region’s biggest tourism attractions remains appealing; and that local jobs are therefore secured."
Tennessee River Grand Slam Cleanup Series Numbers
March 21 – Newport, Tn. | Douglas Lake 20,757 lbs. removed by 134 volunteers
March 22 – Dandridge, Tn. | Douglas Lake 11,485 lbs. removed by 19 volunteers
March 23 – Maynardville, Tn. | Norris Lake 8,071 lbs. removed by 24 volunteers
April 27 – Iuka, Ms./Waterloo, Al. | Pickwick Lake 2,094 lbs. removed by 15 volunteers
May 10 – Murray, Ky./Dover, Tn. | Kentucky Lake 4,198 lbs. removed by 6 volunteers
Total: 46,605 lbs. removed by 198 volunteers
DOUGLAS LAKE
The first two cleanups were held on Douglas Lake, which was severely impacted by the outfall from Hurricane Helene, and it will come with an arsenal of over 134 employee volunteers from Tennessee Valley Authority as well as a local company. The weekend continued with a second consecutive Douglas Lake cleanup and was open to the public. Between the two cleanups, more than 32,000 lbs. of trash were removed including 744 bags of litter, 379 tires, a porta john, 2,287 lbs. of scrap metal, and much more. For these cleanups, the national nonprofit, Living Lands & Waters, assisted by bringing their boats. TVA employees joined on both days and brought another boat on the larger cleanup to help with trash hauling.
NORRIS LAKE
The cleanup on Norris Lake was supporting an annual cleanup hosted by The Norris Lake Project. A couple dozen volunteers came out to help and managed to remove a whopping 8,071 lbs. of trash in a few hours. Their haul included 223 bags of litter, 26 tires, a fridge, 183 square feet of dock foam, and more.
PICKWICK LAKE
Pickwick Lake was rescheduled not once, but twice, due to tornadoes. On the third scheduled date, 15 volunteers came out and removed an impressive 86 bags of litter, 24-feet of barge line, 31 square feet of dock foam, three tires, an old helium tank, and much more. This cleanup was supported by J.P. Coleman State Park, and volunteer forces came from Northrop Gruman, the Clayton Home Building Group, Pickwick Parrot Heads, Tennessee State Parks, Women Who Love the Outdoors and Keep Tennessee Beautiful.
KENTUCKY LAKE
The final cleanup held in the series was held in collaboration with Keep Paris/Henry County Beautiful and Land Between the Lakes. In addition to the 32 bags of litter, 38 feet of barge line, three channel markers, a jet ski lift, and a fiberglass top half of a boat, the KTnRB crew was able to pull a 2,000-pound concrete and metal dock off of the shore it had been lodged on 30 feet inland and tow it back to the boat ramp.
Though not originally intended, this series has wound up being one that hosts cleanups following natural disasters every spring. When initiated in 2019, the cleanup series followed floods from the worst recorded rainfall in history at the time.
The cleanup on Douglas Lake on March 21 was part of the official Keep America Beautiful Greatest American Cleanup campaign, which aims to remove 25 billion pieces of litter nationwide by the country’s 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026. KTnRB worked with TVA to collaborate on this initiative, making TVA the largest agency to make the Greatest American Cleanup declaration thus far.
Cleanups in the Tennessee River Grand Slam Cleanup Series were bolstered with the help of the national nonprofit, Living Lands & Waters, who will bring three of their 30-foot work boats to supplement KTnRB’s two 26-foot work boats. By joining, LL&W will increase the volunteer and trash hauling capacity for each cleanup, therefore increasing the river’s impact.
TVA and TDOT’s ‘Nobody Trashes Tennessee’ litter prevention campaign fund the cleanup series, and Keep Tennessee Beautiful provides cleanup supplies.
To learn more about Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful cleanup events and programs, please visit www.KeepTNRiverBeautiful.org/upcomingcleanups.