Beaufort County Solid Waste and Recycling recently celebrated a major milestone in its composting program during the "Lights, Camera, Compost" ribbon cutting and educational field trip.

To date, residents have helped divert over 30,000 pounds of food waste from the landfill, with more than 600 residents completing the program’s educational quiz and participating in food scrap drop-off.

Food scraps can be dropped off at four Beaufort County Convenience Centers:

• Hilton Head
• Bluffton
• St. Helena
• Shanklin

Residents can participate by completing the County’s composting quiz found here. Residents can also learn what food scraps are accepted, and about bringing their collected food waste to one of the four designated locations.

The celebration also introduced Mossy, Beaufort County’s new composting mascot. Mossy was created to make composting education fun, memorable, and accessible, particularly for students and families. As a gentle, wise Gullah storyteller, Mossy will share the importance of composting through stories, riddles, and folklore-inspired songs.

You can learn more about Mossy here. 

"We are so excited to bring this waste diversion initiative to Beaufort County. It has been a long, winding road—from applying for USDA and SC DES grants and building partnerships, to developing the program and engaging our residents," said Solid Waste & Recycling Program Manager, Victoria Hoffman. "Seeing the community embrace composting has been incredibly rewarding. Our residents and local partners are showing that they care about what happens to our waste, where it goes, and what we can do together to protect and preserve the beautiful Lowcountry we call home. "

Approximately 30 percent of the waste South Carolinians send to landfills is organic. Composting helps divert these materials from disposal while creating a valuable resource for soil and gardens.

For more information about the County’s composting program and how to participate, visit the Beaufort County Solid Waste and Recycling composting webpage.