Image by Flickr user kirstyhall
Charleston County’s Environmental Management Department continues to grow its food waste composting program through its partnership with Charleston County School District. The Greening Schools Program has expanded to include food waste recycling at 10 elementary schools across the County.
In September 2012 Lambs Elementary School in North Charleston became the first CCSD school to pilot a Food Waste Diversion Program.
Based on the success at Lambs Elementary, three additional elementary schools were added to the pilot program in late November 2012: Stono Park Elementary, Mary Ford Elementary and Springfield Elementary. According to Charleston County’s Environmental Management Department staff, the four schools involved in the pilot program had diverted 8.8 tons of waste from the Bees Ferry Landfill as of December 20, 2012.
Charleston County’s Environmental Management Department’s Greening Schools Program Representative, Bronwyn Santos, and CCSD’s Sustainable Schools Coordinator, Maggie Harrelson, have joined forces to identify more schools to add to the Food Waste Diversion Program Pilot. The following six additional schools were selected to participate:
- Harborview Elementary on James Island
- Sullivan’s Island Elementary on Sullivan’s Island
- Angel Oak Elementary on Johns Island
- Ashley River Creative Arts Elementary in West Ashley
- James Island Elementary on James Island
- Belle Hall Elementary in Mount Pleasant
Collection at these schools began earlier this month and is continuing through January. Food waste collected from the cafeterias will be hauled by a local food waste hauler, Food Waste Disposal, to Charleston County’s Bees Ferry Composting Facility to be processed into a high quality finished compost product available for purchase and use in the community.
