Students at Dryden Central School District win sustainability grant to replace utensils

When Dryden High School junior Peter Nydam and his peers were trying to figure out how many utensils the school uses on a regular basis, the number was steep but not surprising.

Working with Megan Munson, the school district’s food service director, students of the Dryden Central School District’s Sustainability Club found out that the high school goes through about 5,000 plastic utensils per month.

“If a kid needs utensils to eat, they should get them. But [the number] was a wow moment,” Nydam said.

That number motivated the club members to go into action to drastically reduce the monthly usage of plastic utensils. This led to members of the Dryden Sustainability Club winning a $750 Sustainable Finger Lakes grant to replace the plastic utensils with reusable metal ones.

“It’s just about making sure the school is progressing forward to a new time, new era and hopefully make it better for everybody in terms of metal utensils,” said Nydam, who filled out the grant application. “This isn’t just from a sustainability standpoint, but it really sucks when you try to cut something with a plastic fork with it breaking and all of that. I think people can really get behind it.”

The Dryden Sustainability Club, led by senior and president Mckenna Crocker, strives to simply make Dryden more sustainable. The club has worked on other sustainability projects in the past, including planting an apple orchard, installing electric vehicle charging stations at no cost to the school district and mulching the courtyard for students to use.

“It’s about making Dryden less of a carbon footprint than it was before,” Crocker said.

Prior to the school’s ongoing transition to metal utensils, the club realized that the Dryden Central School District was the only school in the general area to make the switch. This made the grant application process a no-brainer for the club.

“We had to work a lot of the stuff out by ourselves,” said club member and junior Sawyer Dickinson. “[The grant has] been within our radar for a long time, so this seemed like a good grant to apply for since it’s local.”

Crocker harped on the importance of this project, especially with the high number of plastic utensils the school district has been disposing of in the past.

“Plastic is a very new thing we don’t know much about, and how it’s going to affect us in the long run,” Crocker said. “For Dryden, being a small town and having this much waste, imagine what microplastics are like in bigger areas.”

Since a majority of households already use metal utensils, Nydam knew it was time for a change within the high school cafeteria.

“It was a glaringly obvious source of waste that we could try to cut out if we could get reusables,” Nydam said. “It took a couple of tries to get [the grant], but it finally worked out for us.”

While grant funding covered a majority of the project, the sustainability club held a fundraiser selling sustainable chocolate to cover the rest of the cost. The chocolate was from World’s Finest Chocolate, Crocker said.

The process to keep the project rolling was worth it, Crocker said, as the club hopes to have the metal utensils available sometime this school year.

“It’s nice that people have that ‘pleasantly surprised’ reaction to metal utensils as Dryden makes an effort to be sustainable,” Crocker said.

The club is currently working with Munson on making sure the right metal utensils are picked for the school district.

“We’re working with Ms. Munson to get certain silverware approved right now,” Dickinson said. “Once she approves certain utensils, we’ll use the numbers she gives us and go from there. I think the school will be excited.”

Crocker noted that other school districts in the area can reach out to the Dryden Sustainability Club for assistance if they’re interested in transitioning to metal utensils, as well.

Dryden Dispatch appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.

In brief:

Lake Road neighborhood holding drive-through holiday celebration

The neighborhood on Lake Road in the town of Dryden will hold a drive-through holiday celebration from 6 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16.

People participating in the event will have their homes decorated and sing Christmas carols. Participants will also raise money for the Dryden Hands Fund and support families in need.

For information or questions, reach out to erik.eshelman@gmail.com.

Stories with Santa & Bluey is December 16

Southworth Library in the village of Dryden is having stories with Santa & Bluey Saturday, Dec. 16 at 10:30 a.m.

The event will include photos with Santa & Bluey, holiday crafts and snacks. The Kings Studio dancers will provide a special performance.

Families participating in the event will receive a free Christmas book to bring home. To register, go to southworthlibrary.org.