By Ted Volskay
Environmental Working Group

When Greater Greenville Sanitation announced in January that it would end curbside pickup of recycling for the unincorporated parts of the county, it left a hole in the waste management stream. And a local environmental problem looking for a solution.

To that end, the League of Women Voters of Greenville County’s Environmental Working Group, led by state EWG working group chair Ted Volskay, and including members Candi Samples and Dusty Acosta, met with Greenville City officials on February 14. Councilwoman Dorothy Dowe,  Lynn Watkins, the city’s recycling & environmental coordinator, and Hannah Slyce, discussed sustainability and how food waste and recycling are closely linked to global warming and climate change. 

Volskay reports the meeting was productive for both the (EWG) and the City of Greenville.  The EWG shared specific information about the landfilling of food waste in SC municipal landfills and greenhouse gas emissions from the Twin Chimneys Landfill.  For example:

• More than 600,000 tons of food waste was dumped in SC municipal landfills in 2015.

• Greenville County’s Twin Chimneys Landfill emitted approximately 140,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents in 2021 and has emitted approximately 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (cumulative) from the time the landfill became operational in 2010 through 2021.  

• Approximately 95 percent of carbon dioxide equivalents emitted from the Twin Chimneys Landfill was attributed to methane emissions, the primary byproduct of anaerobic food waste degradation in landfills.  

The EWG also suggested that the City of Greenville consider use of federal funding provided in the American Rescue Plan Act and possibly the Inflation Reduction Act to promote composting of food waste and other recycling initiatives. 

In a follow up to the meeting, Volskay wrote to the city contingent: “Achieving the level of recycling needed to implement a circular economy is daunting, but establishing a line of communications between stakeholders is a foundational first step.  The Environmental Working Group will continue to engage stakeholders on the importance of recycling with the goal of breaking down barriers and growing grassroots support for recycling.  We are appreciative of the City of Greenville’s commitment to advancing green initiatives and we consider the City of Greenville to be a partner in growing a sustainability-based culture going forward.”