Free Compost Available at Bees Ferry Landfill

In honor of International Compost Awareness Week (May 6-12) Charleston County is giving away sample bags of compost while supplies last on Wednesday at the Bees Ferry Landfill at 344 Bees Ferry Road.

International Compost Awareness Week is an effort of the compost industry to promote the environmental benefits of composting. Charleston County has been composting 100 percent of the yard debris, also called vegetative waste, since 2009. In November 2011 the county's ban on using plastic bags for the vegetative waste went into effect in an effort to eliminate plastic from the compost material the county produces.

Charleston County Composting Superintendent Harvey Gibson said the elimination of plastic from the compost stream will result in a higher quality product that the county can sell to commercial customers who had been unwilling to purchase compost contaminated with plastic. The County sells the material by the ton at $10, or in 2-cubic-foot bags at $2.

Last year the Charleston County Enviromental Management Department received the 2011 Outstanding Composting or Organics Recycling Program Award during the Carolina Recycling Association’s (CRA) 21st Annual Trade Show and Conference, for its compost facility for its design and implementation of an organics-recycling program.

“We encourage folks to visit our department’s commercial compost facility and learn about the benefits of composting and the possibilities compost can provide to our community,” Gibson said according to a Charleston County press release. "Composting yard waste saves valuable landfill space, results in a product to be used as a daily cover at the landfill, and reduces landfill operating costs."