Greenville Technical College’s Culinary Institute of the Carolinas (CIC) was recognized with the 2018 Green Award by the Center for the Advancement of Foodservice Education (CAFÉ).
The national award, which recognizes culinary programs that promote and incorporate sustainability efforts as part of the curriculum and operations, is part of CAFÉ’s inaugural Culinary Awards of Excellence in Entrepreneurship and Sustainability.
The CIC combines food waste diversion, recycling, and growing and farming practices in its curriculum and operation at the Northwest Campus in the Berea community while also benefiting from collaborations and partnerships from local farmers, businesses and agricultural organizations.
More than 136 tons of waste diverted from landfills each year
“The CIC has pioneered the use of an in-vessel composting system for unsalvageable food, quickly transforming this waste into valuable sanitized compost for our garden and local farmers,” said Chef Kristen Grissom.
Thanks to this in-house composter, the CIC is able to compost an average 75,000 pounds of vegetable matter, meats, plate waste and clay-coated paper products waste each year. When combined with the average 197,760 pounds of paper, cardboard, metal, glass and plastic recycled annually by the CIC, this is more than 136 tons of waste saved from landfills each year.
In addition to the composter for unusable food and a natural soldier fly larvae composting system for some plate waste and vegetable materials, the CIC also donates its “still good” consumable, perishable food items not used during its student lab activities to a local food rescue organization.
The Culinary Institute of the Carolinas is also growing and farming its own food with a three-quarter acre teaching garden using a permaculture technique called Hugelkultur, a type of raised bed that doesn’t need frequent watering once established. Students also learn and benefit from vegetables grown using aquaponics techniques, and the CIC is also home to three colonies of Italian bees used to pollinate the gardens and make honey for instructional use.
To learn more about the Culinary Institute of the Carolinas and the Sustainable Agriculture program, visit www.gvltec.edu/culinary_institute/ or call (864) 250-3670.
To learn more about the CAFÉ awards, visit https://cafemeetingplace.com/.