For over a decade, the College of Charleston’s Center for Sustainable Development has been building on its food waste diversion program. In 2025 alone, over 400,000 pounds of uneaten food and compostable products were composted locally, a major step up since the initiative began in 2015.
âItâs amazing what the College of Charleston is doing around food recycling. They are setting the standard,â Thomas McQuillan, vice president of commercial strategy and sustainability for Denali, said. It initially started with dining halls, which expanded into a partnership with Denali. Denali is a national organic food waste recycling program. Overall, between 2019 and 2025, 1.5 million pounds have been composted by the College.
âSo in 2015, that was started by a student initiative to get composting in the dining halls,â Katie Doherty, manager for Zero 91²Ö¿â at the College of Charleston, said. âThen to this day, the residential compost drop-off spot, we had students put in for a grant to get the funding to start this program, and then students help put this program in place, get all that infrastructure and logistics together.â