Tennessee Environmental Council

Helping People and Communities Improve Our Environment For All

Tennessee Environmental Council is a vibrant force in Tennessee, empowering citizens to actively participate in environmental stewardship. Through initiatives like watershed protection, organized litter cleanups, and recycling roundups, we facilitate tangible change. Our work extends to promoting sustainable practices at the individual level, offering resources for home composting, pollinator garden creation, and tree planting, encouraging Tennesseans to #bethsolution. By fostering collaborations with diverse partners and stakeholders, TEC ensures that Tennesseans across the state have the tools and opportunities to make a positive impact on their local environments.​

Tennessee Environmental Council is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1970 as an umbrella organization that would tie together many different organizations with diverse, but common priorities into focused advocacy in the state legislature on behalf of Tennessee's environment. Those groups were the League of Women Voters, the Junior League of Nashville, the Tennessee Lung Association, the Tennessee Conservation League, the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs, and the Tennessee Botanical Gardens and Fine A

Testimonials

TN has a major packaging waste problem adding to our landfill crisis.
We recycle only 12% of all potentially recyclable packaging, and send the rest to our landfills - which are rapidly running out of space.

The major barrier to expanding recycling in TN- is funding.

The Tennessee Waste To Jobs Act creates a sustainable funding mechanism that provides the needed investment to expand recycling to 100% of TN residents, increase recycling rates, and prevent valuable packaging from ending up in our landfills.

Taxpayers & municipalities will no longer fund recycling - it will be funded by the producers who make the packaging.

Learn more about this advocacy effort: https://tnwastetojobs.com