​Wasteless Horsemen Initiative Launched at John Paulding

Since April 2023 the Tarrytown Union Free School District (TUFSD) has been taking strides in sustainability by focusing on the environmental impact of its campuses. The Wasteless Horsemen initiative, a pilot program that gives students a hands-on lesson in zero waste practices, has launched at John Paulding School (JP). Later this year, the program will be introduced to W.L. Morse School and will slowly make its way throughout TUFSD.

Kirsten Bourne came on board with the District as an environmental education consultant last spring and has been working hard ever since to create a lesson that will last a lifetime for the students of TUFSD. Ms. Bourne, who is no stranger to environmental conservation, she previously worked as a Cooking & Gardening teacher at a sustainability-focused bilingual elementary school in Washington, D.C. before moving to Sleepy Hollow. She is currently a member of the mayor-appointed Sustainable Sleepy Hollow environmental committee and has led garden and trail-based lessons in the Peabody Preserve. Ms.Bourne has also worked with sustainable food businesses, a food bank, and other community nonprofits.

“A lot of planning went into this,” said Ms. Bourne. “I wake up at 4:30 a.m. and the wheels are turning.”

During the planning phase, Ms. Bourne met with the head custodian in order to ensure proper bins and signage for the program were obtained. Every classroom and the cafeteria now have a color coded bin system which consists of white for liquids, blue for recyclable materials, brown for compost, green for paper, and gray for all trash that can’t be sorted. The bins are each labeled with bilingual, picture-based signage to assist all students as they learn to sort.

Currently, students are practicing how to "Sort it Out" during lunch and in their classroom. With the help of a song and a dance that explain how to properly recycle, students learn how to navigate the waste bins and can share that knowledge with the next group of students.

“I borrowed it from resources shared by New York City's Department of Education, and adopted the lyrics to fit the food service implements of our district before teaching it to the kindergarteners this Fall,” said Ms. Bourne.

Ms. Bourne is also providing fun hands-on lessons to every class that allow students to engage in the experiential lessons and the students are becoming proficient sorters as they dispose of their waste. “I taught the first couple of classes about John Paulding's "pets", the worms that will help turn food scraps into nutrient-rich compost for gardens,” said Ms. Bourne. “The kindergarteners had a ball investigating red wriggler worms to determine what kind of food scraps they were helping to decompose as we discussed what happens to our food scraps after we toss them in the brown bin.”

Soon a new waste management system will be installed and will provide wraparound learning for students and staff. This will provide sustainable habits to be forged and practiced in the schools. TUFSD also has plans to install a dishwasher that will be used for reusable trays and cutlery to help further the initiative.

Since the program launched the trash created by kindergarteners at lunch has decreased from an average 99 lbs per day to just 7 lbs per day. JP is now producing an average of 57 lbs of food scraps per day in the lunchroom, which will be turned into nutrient-rich compost for gardens.