While some people push broccoli around their plates, wondering if it would be so bad to just toss it, the College of Charleston is working to reduce the very thing they’re struggling with: food waste.
The college last year sent 410,360 lbs of organic waste to be composted through a partnership with Denali, a company dedicated to food usage solutions. The effort offset the equivalent of 60.3 metric tons of carbon dioxide.
Denali’s work with the college centers around collecting unused food — from scraps never used in the kitchen to half-eaten sandwiches tossed by students. The food is separated from its packaging, leaving plastic to be recycled when possible and organic material to be transformed into compost, animal feed, mulch and bioenergy.
“I have not seen a college that is as passionate and has as detailed of a program around food recycling,” said Nancy St. Pierre, senior director of public affairs at Denali.
In 2024, Denali recycled 2 billion pounds of food waste, the equivalent of more than 350,000 semi-trailers. All totaled, the company recycled 14 billion pounds of organic materials.
The end products often stay close to home. CofC’s scraps are sent to the Bees Ferry Compost Facility in Charleston, where landscapers, gardeners and residents can purchase nutrient-rich compost, helping to fulfill a broader sustainability goal on campus.
“It’s great that we can be innovative in our own way and show students what a sustainable community looks like.” Nicole Killen, associate director of Student Engagement at the Center for Sustainable Development at CofC said. “We have a goal to be zero waste by 2035.”
The push comes as food waste remains a massive national issue. According to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, over one-third of food is never eaten, costing each American consumer about $728 per year.
To help students participate in reducing that waste, the college offers sustainability funding through the Cougar Changemaker Grant. Last year, the grant helped launch an official Charleston Composts residential food scrap drop site on campus as part of a larger Lowcountry initiative.
There are dozens of other residential composting drop sites available throughout the Lowcountry where community members can contribute their food scraps. Those scraps collected are turned into nutrient-rich compost that can be purchased locally. CofC even uses said compost on campus grounds.
“It’s about accessibility. It gives students an easy way to be sustainable,” said Katie Doherty, CofC’s zero waste manager. She also noted that most students live in residential halls or apartments where at-home composting isn’t feasible. With CofC’s help, students can save their scraps and take them to drop-off locations when they’re ready.
The impact of composting goes beyond simply reducing trash.
Soil is the key to the future of food production. Data from the United Nations shows that of the 18 nutrients essential to plant growth, 15 come from soil — but only if the soil is healthy. Overuse of pesticides, heavy machinery and other harmful farming practices can significantly degrade soil quality and harm biodiversity.
For composting advocates like Thomas McQuillen, vice president of client strategy at Denali, unused food can help restore what’s been lost. Organic matter becomes nutrient-rich compost that feeds the soil that ultimately feeds us. The cycle is contingent on human action.
“We have it in our hands, and we’re sending it to landfills,” McQuillen said.
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