CRATES TO GARDENS

U. S. Steel’s Big River Steel 1 (BR1) collects wood crating material throughout the plant. The material is picked up by a Tennessee company, ground up, and reused for garden mulch. There are currently three cafeteria garden beds at the facility with a goal to build one more in 2024.

Intern, Matthew Cook (pictured here), from Arkansas Northeast Community College, interned for BR1's Environmental Department in Summer of 2023, before heading off to Arkansas State University. One of Matthew’s summer projects was to get the raised garden beds back in shape and coordinate with the cafeteria on what to grow that could be used in meals at the facility. Tomatoes, hot peppers, and herbs like parsley and basil were a big hit. Matthew cleaned out the beds after the Fall and Winter seasons, trimmed the perennial herbs and helped in designing a rainwater system to automate watering the beds.

“My family and I have farmed for four generations, although I learned more about backyard plants and small gardening while I was at BRS — than I knew before — I really enjoyed this project and I liked watching them grow, it was a good feeling to harvest the vegetables which were shared with the cafeteria. I can’t wait to come back and intern again — I had a blast, met great people — like Tracy Poe, the BRS Environmental Technician who took me under his wing to show me the ropes. I couldn’t have had or asked for a better mentor. I would love to work at U. S. Steel’s Big River Steel Works full-time one day after I graduate college.” — Matthew Cook