State Composted 11 Tons of 
Food Waste During Special Olympics 

RALEIGH – While the 10,000 athletes and thousands of volunteers gathered in North Carolina for the 1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games, state government employees and volunteers were busy turning their food wastes into compost. 

Volunteers from the state's Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), North Carolina State University (NCSU) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) teamed to divert dining hall food wastes to composting facilities. From June 25 through July 5, volunteers collected 21,619 pounds (that's 10.81 tons!) of leftovers from cafeterias and took them to compost sites at NCSU and in Orange County. 

"This was the largest food compost collection and diversion project in North Carolina's history," Craig Coker, DENR's organics recycling coordinator, said. "It's also the first organics recycling effort ever attempted by the Special Olympics World Summer Games." 

It also was a boost for Governor Jim Hunt's recent declaration of "N. C. Project Green," a massive state government effort to expand environmental sustainability programs. Hunt challenged state employees last September to set an example for North Carolinians by integrating environmental awareness into the day-to-day operations of state government. 

On July 21, the Governor told 200 state employees to "spread the word that programs and projects that sustain the environment are gifts of stewardship to our children and grandchildren." 

Like the food waste to compost project, 77 other environmentally aware projects from 13 state agencies are part of the Governor's environmental initiative. 

For additional details on the food waste to compost project, contact Craig Coker at the Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance, DENR, at (919) 715-6524. 

###