Amy Umberger teaches students.
Growing up in Chesapeake, Virginia, Amy Umberger regularly surprised her mother with gifts like snakes, frogs, and various other crawly things most mothers don’t usually appreciate. “I’ve always had a love of nature.”
After attending Liberty University in Lynchburg for her undergraduate degree, Umberger moved south to Columbia and earned her interdisciplinary masters of arts degree in natural sciences at USC.
Two years interning at the Center for Science Education allowed Umberger to pause from traditional teaching and focus on environmental sciences. A position at Webber Elementary in Eastover, teaching third–fifth grade science lab, cemented her feelings about what she wanted to do.
“Teaching kids outdoors was great. I fell in love with environmental education. We put in a little pond right outside of the science lab and observed all the life each day would bring.”
Umberger said “teaching boys especially” led her to focus exclusively on environmental education. “When being involved with outdoor activities and working with their hands, or doing things, they transform. To see a group of boys, heading toward a negative track, completely excited about the world, that was the trigger for me.”
Dutch Fork Elementary School students divide trash after lunch.
A move to Dutch Fork Elementary (DFE) in Lexington/ Richland Five as resident scientist ten years ago followed a stint at Logan Elementary in Richland One as a science coach. The new resident scientist developed a nature trail and other outdoor spaces to explain how the world works and the role humans play. This hands-on approach led to discussions on recycling and composting. And the students were enthusiastically getting involved. One day at lunch, several students asked why their cafeteria didn’t compost food waste. Umberger had no satisfactory answer.
Seed money from Richland County Recycling got things started. SMART, based in Charleston, was the only nearby hauling company willing to drive to Columbia to pick up the waste and deliver it to a composting company.
That composting company in this case was ReSoil, in Elgin, which delivered composting products throughout the Midlands. Originally a small local business founded in 2016, ReSoil was purchased by Green Energy Biofuel in early 2020.
Green Energy processes waste vegetable oil from various restaurants and industrial facilities. Prior to the purchase of ReSoil the company was disposing of the waste from that process at the landfill. All of that product is now upcycled and made into compost.
In addition to the waste from Green Energy, ReSoil works with haulers to divert food waste and other organic material from the landfill and produce a premium compost that is STA certified by the US Composting Council.
Green Energy has continued the original relationship with Dutch Fork Elementary established in 2016; together they have compost sales/fundraisers using ReSoil to offset the cost of hauling the collected food waste from the school. Spokesperson Matt Renwick said, “Green Energy is excited to be able to be part of the Dutch Fork composting program. Children are learning at a young age that there are better ways to handle certain waste. They see the leftover food go full circle from the cafeteria and back to selling a usable product that is not just dumped into the landfill.”
Dutch Fork students separate food waste from landfill waste and deposit both types into bins provided by SMART. The food waste is then delivered to ReSoil, where it becomes compost. Dutch Fork Elementary receives three yards of free compost in return and uses the rest, and various grants, to offset any costs the two partnering businesses incur.
Gary Bilbro, founder and board member of SMART Recycling US envisioned a world with reduced waste, thriving sustainable communities, and locally sourced food. Since 2014, SMART Recycling offers composting service in the Carolinas for restaurants, hotels, hospitals, and industrial facilities such as Google, Boeing, Samsung, and Michelin.
Many school districts and universities compost their food waste including Charleston County, Horry County, and USC. In 2016, Umberger requested SMART Recycling start a composting program at Dutch Fork Elementary.
That is how Crumbs to Compost came to be nine years ago, at the students’ insistence. The kids are digging even deeper into the ecological importance of what they’re doing by questioning the use of Styrofoam in the lunchroom.
After wondering why food trays were Styrofoam instead of paper, which is compostable, a group of students in a fourth grade classroom at DFE invited district level leadership in to ask that question. Sadly, the cost of paper versus Styrofoam, a significant cost, was the answer—hopefully, not the final answer.
Through this program, Dutch Fork Elementary’s 485-plus students divert an average of 30 tons of food waste from the landfill annually. The kids learned to separate their compostable lunchroom waste from non-compostable garbage and sort it into separate, clearly marked containers.
“They were enthusiastic about doing this,” said Umberger. “It is a rule, and everyone does it. We’ve even had kids say they started recycling at home because of the school’s program, and several who want to bring their compostable stuff here.”
In addition to the actual process, the students collect data on the program. “We weigh the containers, calculate the data, and have a running chart on the wall, in pounds and tons, of how much we’re diverting.”
“The school is at the forefront of promoting sustainable practices and environmental stewardship,” said Meghan McGill of SMART Recycling US.
Bilbro remarks, “This relationship has been very successful; it is just a shame there is not an Amy in every other school in the district.”
Umberger is grateful for Lexington-Richland School District Five, for funding so many Title One schools and also teaching environmental science in one of those. Florence and Greenville have an environmental education program, but no other area school does—one wonders why.
When asked about the importance of environmental education, Umberger was adamant, saying, “It’s what we’re doing that affects these critters we love. If you can get at the heart, kids really respond to that. I’m glad to be at a school where social action can be a part of everyday thinking.”
Crumbs to Compost is now in the tenth year of operation. One year during the “crazy COVID time” was the only period the program didn’t happen. The 2024 version is being partially funded by grants from Richland Soil and Water Conservation District, Environmental Education Association of SC, and Mid-Carolina Electric.
For more on Crumbs to Compost or information about adding a composting program to your school, visit
•eeasc.org
•www.richlandcountysc.gov/Government/Departments/Conservation/Soil-Water-Conservation-District
•resoilcompost.com/
•www.smartrecyclingus.com/
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