Bees Ferry Composting Operation opened in 1993. In its first year, it diverted 20,000 tons of waste from the landfill and converted it into compost. Nearly 30 years later, it processes about 75,000 tons of yard waste and 5,000 tons of food waste.
That’s a lot of compost. In 2020, Charleston County partnered with McGill Environmental to manage operations. It is now called Bees Best Compost .
In 2021, the compost was awarded OMRI Listing Certification , which means it can be used in certified organic gardening. They also maintain the Seal of Testing Assurance (STA) that certifies quality compost. I recently attended one of their tours, because that’s the sort of thing I do on a beautiful Saturday morning in the Lowcountry.
Their composting process starts when landscape waste, such as branches and foliage, is chipped and shredded. The resulting grinds are put into large piles where they are watered every other week to maintain moisture levels and turned over with oversized bucket loaders every 30 days to improve aeration. After sitting in piles for six months, these grinds will be partially decomposed.
In other words, they are not compost yet. The magic sauce to reach a state of quality compost is food scraps. Food scraps waiting to be mixed with partially decomposed wood grinds.
Food scraps add the necessary nutrients for microorganisms to do work. Without food scraps, piles of grinds would take 18 months to convert into compost as opposed to six months with food scraps. Fo.