April 24, 20242 min read

Partnership protects Tennessee watershed through river cleanups and cigarette recycling program
MARYVILLE, Tenn., April 24, 2024 — 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.
Experience the full interactive Multichannel News Release here:
https://www.multivu.com/players/English/9231853-clayton-home-builders-group-keep-the-tennessee-river-beautiful/
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.
About Clayton
Founded in 1956, Clayton is a leading single-family, values-driven home builder committed to opening doors to a better life through homeownership. The company’s portfolio includes a comprehensive range of site-built, modern manufactured, Tiny, CrossMod® and modular housing. In 2025, Clayton built more than 59,000 homes nationwide. Clayton remains committed to delivering attainable, sustainably-built housing with a lower cost of homeownership and creating world-class experience for customers and team members. For more information, visit claytonhomes.com.
CrossMod is a registered certification mark of the Manufactured Housing Institute.
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.”