McDonald’s of Washington is going green through an unlikely source.

As part of the company’s “Good Neighbor, Good Grounds” initiative, owners Bill and Dulcy Purcell are partnering with Beaufort County Future Farmers of America students to donate used coffee grounds to Washington High School for use as fertilizer in its school garden.

“This program is designed to divert the restaurant’s used coffee grounds from the waste stream by donating them to area gardens in an effort to add nutrients such as nitrogen to soil or compost,” a press release stated. “The idea is fairly simple, but impactful. The restaurant collects their grounds separately and makes them readily available for their community garden partner to pick up and utilize as needed.”

Washington High FFA representatives collect almost 22 quarts of coffee grounds each week, according to the release.

“Good Neighbor, Good Grounds” was created in 2015 to help reduce the amount of organic waste going into landfills, according to McDonald’s Corp.

“To make our delicious McCafe beverages, McDonald’s restaurants use literally tons of coffee grounds and espresso beans each year, which can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions when they begin decomposing in a landfill,” the website explains.

The initiative is one piece in McDonald’s Corp.’s overall goal to recycle 50 percent of its in-restaurant waste by 2020. In-restaurant waste includes: parking lot waste, such as trashcans; front-of-counter waste, such as liquids, paper and plastic; and back-of-counter waste, such as cooking oil or corrugated cardboard.

“We’re committed to having a positive impact on the communities we support from social responsibility to sustainability efforts,” Dulcy Purcell stated. “We serve a lot of coffee each day, and we are looking forward to growing this program so we can serve even more gardens and composts.”

Restaurants in Oklahoma, Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington and Arizona already participate in the “Good Neighbor, Good Grounds” initiative, and the Purcells are some of the first franchise owners to bring it to North Carolina. The Purcells own 15 McDonald’s restaurants across the eastern part of the state.