City of Charleston, SC Launches Composting Pilot Program

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): The City of Charleston is launching a program designed to make composting easier and more accessible for residents. Beginning January 23, residents will be able to drop their compost at designated sites throughout the city: Ackerman Park, Corrine Jones Park, or Medway Park. Those scraps will be taken to the larger Bees Ferry Composting Facility instead of the landfill.

Composting means separating scraps of organic material, like food, from other garbage. Those scraps naturally break down and provide a substance that can be used as a natural fertilizer, providing much-needed nutrients to soil. Compost is a safer alternative to chemical fertilizers, which benefits animals and the environment.

Additionally, composting helps to reduce greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Landfills emit 17% of the country’s methane, which traps heat in the atmosphere. In Charleston County alone, more than 15,000 tons of compostable materials are dumped in the landfill each year. That accounts for 25% of the city’s collected waste. The composting program will divert tons of material from the landfill, reducing the amount of greenhouse produced in the Lowcountry.

Courtesy: www.wasteadvantage.com