From Scraps to Fuel, Produce Comes Full Circle

Like many independent schools, Trinity-Pawling School encourages its students to get involved in extracurricular activities. With strong participation in athletics, the all-boys rural New York State school is an annual powerhouse in football, lacrosse and baseball. For students more agriculturally minded, an equally impressive farming program allows them to channel energy into tilling soil, turning compost and tending to produce grown in campus greenhouses and gardens. The CulinArt-managed dining team features five to 10 pounds of that nutrient-rich produce in recipes every week.

The catalyst for the gardening program is the kitchen’s waste-tracking tool, Waste Not, that focuses on avoidable food waste-reduction opportunities. Under normal circumstances, the dining service contributes between 80 and 100 pounds of waste to the compost program per week that students take to compost bins. Maintenance crews then add leaves and grass clippings. Finally, both groups spend time turning the compost until it is ready for blending into the greenhouse’s raised beds. Planting takes place in the spring and staff members keep an eye on the plants during summer.

“Once we come back in August,” says Jason Swartz, Dining Services Manager, “that’s when the foodservice piece comes into play.” The harvested vegetables make their way into the cafe along with signage to identify the products. “This lets the students know that this item just came from the gardens right at your school that your classmates worked on, putting in time and effort,” Swartz explains. What starts as kitchen scraps ultimately becomes fuel for students. “We try to incorporate as much of the produce from the greenhouse as we can into our menus,” Swartz adds. “Composting is an educational tool for the boys as well. Instead of sending compost out, we use it in-house. So we are not wasting it - it comes full circle.”