We did it! 
Plastic Free Lunch Day - Cafeteria Culture
​Take plastic free, climate action in your school cafeteria!
Cafeteria Culture, in partnership with the NYC Department of Education
Office of Food and Nutrition Services and Office of Sustainability, students and staff,
led the first NY Citywide Plastic Free Lunch Day on May 16, 2022!
Keep the plastic-free action going!
 #plasticfreelunch

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Cafeteria Culture presents
Microplastic Madness - the movie
Our award winning documentary
​with kids taking the lead
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Free for all Title 1 & under-resourced schools!
​Spanish, English, Russian and Japanese subtitled versions available!
​In Japan? Host a screening ->
​

60,000 viewers in 45 countries!
Share this uplifting, take action movie with your school, friends, and co-workers --> 
watch on YouTube ->/ watch on Vimeo ->
movie details  ->

Be inspired by youth to
take #plasticfree action!

Learn about the #plasticpollution problem ->

​TEACHERS
HOST A SCREENING
Spanish,  English and Japanese  subtitled versions available
Free for all underserved  schools
​And sign up for our
free MICROPLASTIC MADNESS TOOLKIT
data + action lessons for grades 3-12
support student-led climate action
​
Guiding Questions, Games, Activities --->
​
マイクロプラスチック・ストーリー  〜ぼくらが作る2050年〜
In Japan? Host a screening ->
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Get ready for 
PLASTIC FREE LUNCH
 May 16, 2022
contact your U.S. Member of Congress
and ask them to support the
Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act
Learn about this groundbreaking legislation ->
Citizen Science
for ages 8 - 98!​​
Engage policy makers
on plastic pollution by 
collecting litter + data 
then sharing it to
inform policy!
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more ACTIONS! 

the PLASTIC POLLUTION PROBLEM ->
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CafCu
​ Youth Advocates 
middle and high school after school program

see: Youth Action
on Plastic Pollution

NYC YOUTH CLIMATE STRIKE, 2019  
 ​Rebeca Sabnam, 16 year old
CafCu Youth Advocate,
 at the Youth #ClimateStrikeNYC ​
​"Human greed is fueling our oceans with the power to wipe Bangladesh off the map. We’re almost out of time!"


​
LISTEN TO YOUTH!
​
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Youth POV +action on climate,
racial justice, human rights,
policy, public school & more!

​


​
New York State passes bag ban and 
​NYC passes bag fee! ->
More about Youth Advocates ->
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Free Educational Resources
See them all ->

free TOOLKIT
for a plastic free future
 (grades 3 and up)
Teachers, sign up here
 Watch & be inspired to teach students
​how to use data to inform policy!
Watch "Kids Exercise Democracy" on Vimeo
Be inspired by NYC youth to
#BreakFreeFromPlastic
Watch & share "Got Reusable Bags..." 7th grade students in Flatbush
Watch: "Got Reusable Bags?" on Vimeo -> ; be inspired by 7th grade students from MS 246 Walt Whitman in Brooklyn! See more Movies.
Service Learning in the cafeteria!
Students take on cafeteria leadership roles 
​to reduce school cafeteria
food & packaging waste.
Watch on Youtube ->; Watch on Vimeo ->​
videos and free downloads ->

​​
Watch on YouTube->; Watch on Vimeo ->​
​
Educators from around the world
are using our movies and toolkits
in classrooms, cafeterias, & in the community.
NO-Styro Foam puppet

 Youth-led
Advocacy +  Victories

​ STYROFOAM OUT OF SCHOOLS
15 school districts did it.
​  ​Your school can too!

​Cafeteria Culture's 
STYROFOAM OUT OF SCHOOLS campaign
catalyzed the complete elimination
of plastic foam trays from NYC schools,
leading to a co-purchasing agreement with
10 large US urban school districts, and
diverting 1/2  BILLION foam trays per year 
from landfills, incinerators, and student meals! ​
Cafcu 5th grade student advocates
take action
to ban plastic foam in NYC!
.Just one week after the
​ Youth Rally To Ban Foam  at NY City Hall,
judge announces NYC foam ban can move forward (2018)
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Youth Rally to Ban Foam: PS 15 K students & polluting polystyrene foam (styrofoam) collected at Jamaica Bay, NYC

New York Bans Plastic Bags
For 5 years, CafCu students collected litter + data,
debated issues, engaged council members,
educated neighbors & gave out thousands of reusable bags 
. more ->

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Shahzia, Rachel, Nerlande & Taina, 8th graders, MS 246 Walt Whitman, at NY City Hall with Council Member Brad Lander, speaking on plastic litter. (2016)
NYC Bag Bill Rally - NEST 3rd graders
NEST+m 3rd graders at New York City Hall Bag Bill Rally, April 2016

PS34M 5th grade students leading on the NYC bag bill ⬇︎

Watch on Youtube -> ; Watch on Vimeo ->
Start s Straw-By-Request campaign 

Please donate
for innovative zero waste,
plastic free, climate education
for under-resourced schools and communities!

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School Programs
INNOVATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
and ACTION

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Community Arts+Media
for Plastic Free Waters ->

Middle School
PlasticFree Waters​ ->

Watch on YouTube->; Watch on Vimeo ->​

Tokyo/NYC school
partnership programs

Watch on Vimeo->

ZERO WASTE
PLASTIC FREE CAFETERIAS 

Youth lead zero waste audits and outreach
to scale up plastic free initiatives.
A recipe for change!

 Cafeteria Rangers 
and Make Change Messaging 

Watch on Youtube ->; Watch on Vimeo ->
ARTS+ACTION school programs - creative hands-on learning, student leadership, plus teaching the WHY with HOW! learn more ->
ZERO WASTE INSPIRATION FROM JAPAN

SCHOOL LUNCH IN JAPAN 
directed by Atsuko Quirk,
Cafeteria Culture Media Director
 34 MILLION VIEWS ​on YouTube!!

WATCH MORE CAFCU MOVIES ->
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Youth-made Impact Videos
(our Plastic Free Waters + Media school programs->)
more youth made videos on our YouTube channel ->

SUBSCRIBE

The Story of Aliana and Joe - plastic in fish?

Watch on YouTube; Watch ​on Vimeo->

Journey of Plastic Litter  

Watch on YouTube; Watch ​on Vimeo->
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Your tax-deductible donation supports innovative
zero waste, plastic free, and climate education, 
​in under-resourced schools.
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In the News

“I’ve learned a lot of things, not just the cycle of Styrofoam and plastics,” Dalencour told the RHSR.  ​“I’ve also learned how to communicate with my peers better; I was kind of quiet, but it gave me a way to open up.”   (read more ->)

​WNCY.org,  Morning Edition, April 2018
Cafeteria Rangers Are Learning How to Reduce School Waste  
Cafeteria Rangers from PS 188 the Island School spoke with WNYC report Shumita Basu for Earth Day! 
"I like it because we're helping the universe and we're being responsible."

Ecowatch:
Ditch Plastic Lunches: Stand Up for Zero-Waste Schools
Marcus Eriksen, Nov. 20, 2017

"Debby Lee Cohen, executive director and founder of Cafeteria Culture, explained "Yet the long term effects of hot food served daily to children, directly onto trays made of the chemical styrene—sometimes 3 times per day and over a 13-year period—has yet to be studied."...

Accolades

MICROPLASTIC MADNESS wins Greenpoint Film Festival Grand Jury Award!   September, 2020
PS 15 Patrick F Daly 5th graders speak at the US EPA Region 2 on environmental justice and plastic pollution. (March, 2018)

PS/MS34 M - Cafcu students
present to delegates from China

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The US State Department and EPA invited Cafeteria Culture and our students to present to delegates from China on community-based, upstream solutions to reduce plastic street litter.

Cafeteria Culture at the
United Nations

Cafeteria Culture Executive Director, Debby Lee Cohen and Media Director, Atsuko Quirk present at the United Nations Headquarters in NYC as part of the 17th Meeting of the UN Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (ICP-17) - Marine Debris, Plastics and Microplastics.
​

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Cafeteria Culture's Mission
Working creatively with youth to achieve equitable zero-waste, 
​climate-smart school communities,
​and a plastic free biosphere,
merging citizen science, civic action, media and the arts!
(see our award winning movie, MicroplasticMadness..org) 


​CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION