Starting in 1999, several Orange County, NC, food retailers began participating in a food scrap collection pilot program, with the county picking up the tab for the service.
From that pilot has grown a multi-pronged organic waste management system, which has created a ripple effect where organics diversion has become part of the region’s culture, beyond just the commercial sector.
Today, more than 2,700 tons of organics, mainly food waste, are diverted from Orange County and turned into compost each year. Beginning in kindergarten, kids routinely sort their cafeteria scraps. Residents do backyard composting, which they learn in free classes, and the University of NC in Chapel Hill has launched its own collection system-one that has inspired other colleges to develop similar programs. The county also runs a yard waste program, grinding and aging the material itself and selling it as mulch.
This program has also even rippled out towards the NC coast. The Chapel Hill Restaurant Group, which owns five restaurants, participates in the food scrap collections at two of its restaurants in Orange County and their wasted oyster shells are put to good use rebuilding the state’s oyster beds, they have recycled more than 200 tons of oyster shells over the last 10 years!
Brooks Contractor’s 19-year relationship with Orange County has given it the opportunity to show what can be done, says Amy Brooks, the company’s co-owner. “Orange County was the initial stimulant to get this whole closed loop cycle of organics happening countywide,” states Brooks. “It set an example to show other municipalities how to get this going and to make composting available to farmers, landscapers, residents, universities and others.”
Read the entire story at www.waste360.com
(Article by Waste 360.)