Partnership protects Tennessee watershed through river cleanups and cigarette recycling program

MARYVILLE, Tenn., April 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Clayton Home Building Group is excited to announce a three-year partnership agreement with Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful, an organization dedicated to a clean, healthy, beautiful Tennessee River for generations to come. The partnership formalizes an existing relationship in which Clayton team members volunteer at river cleanups and participate in a cigarette recycling program at its home building facilities.

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Clayton celebrated the announcement with an official check presentation and three river cleanups in March, where team members from Clayton Rutledge, Clayton Bean Station, TRU Halls and TRU White Pine home building facilities volunteered at Cherokee Lake and Norris Lake. Team members removed 45,823 pounds of trash from Tennessee waterways, including 175 tires, two TVs, an abandoned boat and two fuel tanks.

Kathleen Gibi, Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful executive director, says, "We are thrilled to have Clayton as an official partner of Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful. In 2023, our organization removed a record 218,000 pounds of garbage from the Tennessee watershed, and Clayton team members helped us achieve that milestone by collecting 82,717 pounds of garbage. We're so grateful for Clayton's commitment to continue protecting our watershed and for the hundreds of team members who have participated in these incredibly impactful cleanups."

In addition to river cleanups, Clayton home building and supply facilities in Tennessee and Alabama are participating in a cigarette recycling program with Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful. "Littered cigarettes are a major contributor to microplastic pollution in our waterways," says William Jenkins, Clayton Home Building Group senior director of environment and sustainability. "Since December, we've collected more than 6,000 cigarette filters that will be recycled and repurposed into outdoor plastic furniture instead of littering our waterways." The recycling program is also supported by Keep America Beautiful, of which Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful is an affiliate, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

The partnership is a natural fit for Clayton, a leading single-family, values-driven home builder dedicated to attainable housing, sustainable practices, and creating a world-class experience for customers and team members. The company provides team members with paid volunteer time off to make significant community impacts, and the partnership with Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful reflects Clayton's dedication to driving change by advancing sustainability and doing good by giving back to others.

Up next for the two organizations are more cleanups along the Tennessee River, including events in Alabama near Clayton home building facilities. "It's great to partner with an organization whose footprint in Tennessee and Alabama mirrors the Tennessee watershed landscape," says Gibi, "where Clayton team members can directly impact their community's water quality for generations to come."

About Clayton

Founded in 1956, Clayton is committed to opening doors to a better life and building happyness through homeownership. A Berkshire Hathaway company, Clayton is a leading single-family, values-driven home builder dedicated to attainable housing, sustainable practices, and creating a world-class experience for customers and team members. The company's portfolio includes a comprehensive range of site-built and modern manufactured housing, including Tiny, CrossMod and modular housing. In 2023, Clayton built more than 52,000 homes across the country. For more information, visit claytonhomes.com.

CrossMod is a registered trademark of the Manufactured Housing Institute.

About Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful

Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful is a 501c3 nonprofit and is the first Keep America Beautiful affiliate in the nation to focus solely on a river. Its mission is to rally communities along the Tennessee River and its tributaries to preserve, improve and protect the river for generations to come. To date, over 4,500 volunteers have helped the organization to remove 712,589 lbs. of trash along the 652-mile Tennessee River and its tributaries that reach into seven states.

Media Contact: Caitlyn Crosby, [email protected]

SOURCE Clayton