I created the below one page recap of our impact so far turning the students of the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns (the Headless Horsemen!) into Wasteless Horsemen. This reflects our strategy of starting with the youngest students, and snowballing up to the high school over about a three year period. I’ve worked with the JP & WI teams to install color coded waste bins (to really underscore that the materials need to be sorted into different containers in order to be turned into something new), and have taught lessons around recycling, composting and sorting to empower students and staff to turn their schools into zero waste schools.
Students at JP and Morse are creating 40,000 fewer pounds of trash per school year than they would otherwise. That’s 40,000 lbs that won’t be sent to the incinerator in Peekskill, which is the largest air polluter in Westchester, to be burned. That doesn’t include the amount of classroom and kitchen waste that’s being composted or recycled instead of sent to the incinerator.
During one of my lessons, a Morse teacher said “how cool they’re learning a real life skill at such a young age”. Even at a young age our students hear about the climate crisis, yet they don’t control most of their family’s decisions around purchases, energy use, etc. It’s empowering that this something they are doing themselves, every day at school, to make a difference. These new habits also fall right within the Civic Mindedness disposition in our District’s Portrait of a Learner. Check it out and leave a comment or question if you want to talk!
