Cafeteria Culture (CafCu) is an environmental education and advocacy organization, creatively working with youth to achieve zero waste schools, climate smart communities, and plastic free waters. Our interdisciplinary K-12 programs foster youth-led solutions on critical sustainability issues by merging citizen science and civic action with the arts and video production. Students in our programs, who are overwhelmingly from low-income communities of color, take on the roles of environmental leaders, advocates, and storytellers, providing a critically needed voice in NYC’s environmental movement.
Founded in 2009 as Styrofoam Out of Schools, we catalyzed the complete elimination of polystyrene (aka, styrofoam) trays from all New York City (NYC) public schools and now ten other cities, resulting in the diversion of over half a billion polystyrene trays per year from landfills, incinerators and student meals across the US. We achieved this remarkable goal by working in partnership with students, school communities, and government, a model that we continue to embrace. The elimination of polystyrene trays helped to create a domino effect, paving the way for NYC schools organics program and zero waste goals.
To ensure that the new compostable school food plates and other recyclables remain as resources, CafCu has taught our award winning “ Cafeteria Ranger” service learning programs to over 10,000 pre-K- 12th graders in New York City (NYC) schools. We start by teaching “Garbology 101,” engaging students on reduction by making the connection of our garbage to environmental justice, climate change and marine plastic pollution. Students take on leadership roles as Cafeteria Rangers during the lunch period to oversee all sorting. To scale the program up, CafCu launched a free online, multimedia SORT2save KIT in 2015. The “SORT2save Cheer” – video currently has over 8,000 unique views on YouTube. Our video, “School Lunch In Japan. It’s Not Just About Eating” - originally created to inspire NYC School Food directors - has over 20,000 million views!
Building upon the success of the Cafeteria Ranger programs, in 2015, Cafcu began piloting our unique Plastic Free Waters (PFW) curriculum, extending student leadership from the school out to the community. Students from grades 3-8 engage in the design of creative solutions to address one of the most urgent environmental and health issues of our time, the pervasiveness of single-use plastics in the environment. Students conduct street and beach litter characterization studies and cleanups, pilot reusable bag giveaways, engage neighbors and local businesses, and design creative messaging, such as giant puppets, banners and videos. Utilizing their own local data and culturally rich narratives, students present to their community, legislators, and government agencies, accelerating community and citywide action. Students in our programs have testified to NYC Council at a Wastewater Treatment hearing and recently presented to 70 attendees of a Plastic Free Waters Partnership meeting at the US EPA Region 2 and to NGO leaders from China via a US State Department invitation.
In 2016, Cafeteria Culture won a competitive Trash Free Waters grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2 to design and lead school programs in three low-income communities for upstream, youth-driven solutions for reducing plastics in waterways. In 2015, CafCu was one of only five organizations in North America to receive an inaugural UL Innovative Education Award for advancing environmental STEM education, sustainable communities, and youth empowerment. CafCu received an Environmental Quality Award from the US EPA in 2013 and Cohen received an Eco Hero Award from the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in 2010 for her role in catalyzing Trayless Tuesdays in all NYC schools, which was a first step towards full elimination of styrofoam from schools. In 2016, Cohen and Quirk presented at the United Nations Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (ICP-17) in NYC on upstream urban youth solutions for reducing plastic marine pollution.
In honor of World Oceans Day 2018, CafCu collaborated with students at PS 15 K in Red Hook, Brooklyn, organizing a Youth Rally to Ban Foam at NY City Hall with 200 students from our Plastic Free Waters programs, Council Members, and a surprise visit from Mayor de Blasio. Students shared their research on toxic and polluting foam and urged New York City Council members to pass a new foam ban bill without loopholes. Exactly one week later and five years after the original NYC law to ban foam was passed and then blocked by industry-backed lawsuits, a the court ruled to uphold the ban! NYC will now proceed with the foam ban, which go into effect in January 2019.
