ABOUT
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Cafeteria Culture (CafCu, founded as Styrofoam Out of Schools) works with youth to creatively achieve zero waste/ climate smart schools communities and a plastic free biosphere. We teach innovative environmental education that fosters youth-led solutions by merging citizen science, civic action. video production and the arts.
Students in our programs, overwhelmingly from lower income communities of color and living in public housing, are providing an urgently needed voice to our City’s plastic free and climate movement. By partnering with School Food Directors and students, we catalyzed the elimination of styrofoam trays from New York City schools. |
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CafCu's award winning documentary, Microplastic Madness (2019), screened in 45 countries, is sparking youth-led action for a plastic free future with schools as hubs for change. (Host a screening of Microplastic Madness, free for all under-resourced school). We are now ready to eliminate the remaining single-use plastics from NYC and US public school cafeterias, reviving refill and reuse models and piloting new methods for dramatically reducing wasted food so that school organics can be managed locally. |
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Students in our programs debate the issues, collect local data, analyze their own data, conduct video interviews, design solutions, and educate decision makers with their persuasive, personal storytelling that is supported by their own data. Their leadership accelerates solutions that address environmental justice and the plastic pollution/climate crises. Founded in 2009 as Styrofoam Out of Schools, Cafeteria Culture (CafCu), catalyzed the complete elimination of plastic styrofoam trays from all NYC public schools and nine other large U.S. school districts, resulting in half a billion styrofoam trays diverted from landfills, incinerators and student meals annually. Building upon this victory, we continue to pilot solutions in partnership with New York City students and staff to rid public school cafeterias of all the remaining single-use plastic. The Cafeteria Culture Background Story -> |
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Teachers everywhere can access free lessons that are portrayed in the movie: MICROPLASTIC MADNESS Toolkit Cafeteria Culture (CafCu) Youth Advocates is youth leadership, after school program focused on plastic-free and climate justice action. The CafCu team mentors middle and high school age youth, primarily alumni of Cafeteria Culture’s school programs. Building upon previous experience as change-makers and advocates, the Youth Advocates meet weekly to stay up to date on issues and to take action. |
Youth POV +action on climate, racial justice, human rights, policy, public school & more! |
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Environmental Education Awards include: - 2022-23 - a competitive US EPA grant for our School Cafeteria Waste Reduction Interventions for Climate Smart Food Service program to pilot low-cost, scalable interventions with detailed waste audits, video documentation and student partnership and messaging to dramatically reduce food and food packaging waste. 2022-23 - a competitive Japan Foundation Grant for our Okinawa & New York Youth for Global Plastic Pollution Action program that partners students from two schools in Iriomote Island in Okinawa, Japan with students from our NYC partner school, PS/MS 188 the Island School, to foster a student-driven exploration of the plastic pollution problem that plagues both countries. 2016-2017 - a competitive US EPA grant for piloting Trash Free Waters interdisciplinary education in 3 schools, including PS 15, which led to the creation of our award winning movie, "Microplastic Madness." 2015 - CafCu was one of only five North American organizations to receive an inaugural UL Innovative Education Award for advancing environmental STEM education, sustainable communities, and youth empowerment for our ARTS+ACTION school program (awarded via North American Association of Environmental Education); 2013 - Environmental Quality Award from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2. |
EPA Environmental Quality Award. Linda Cox, Exec. Director Bronx River Alliance; Atsuko Quirk; Debby Lee Cohen; Judith Enck, EPA Region 2 Administrator. New York City, April 19, 2013
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Students in our programs learn 21st Century skills, including collaboration, problem solving, critical thinking, and participatory democracy, then engage local, national, and international audiences with their creative and informed youth-made messages and videos.
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PS15 K 5th graders workshop built masks and wrote skits to engage their community on plastic litter and TRASH FREE WATERS
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VISION We envision a zero waste future where landfill and incinerator garbage as we know it no longer exists; where post consumption waste from food to packaging is drastically reduced and what remains benefits our schools, communities, and the environment. Starting in 2012, our unique “ARTS+ACTION Zero Waste School” program was key to our work and success. We taught the program as a demonstration project to over 10,000 pre K-12th grade students from 14 NYC schools, located primarily in low income communities of color. We teach the "why" before the "how,” then empower students with hands-on leadership roles as Cafeteria Rangers.
The parallel program component, an interdisciplinary "Make Change Messaging" curriculum, provided students the opportunity to become school anc community change-makers, designing arts-based advocacy campaigns to engage communities on the links between garbage, environmental justice, and climate change. More details on our history here -> |
The compostable plate - now in all 1,800 NYC public schools, as well as in the 15 other Urban School Food Alliance cities, including LA, Chicago, Miami, and Dallas.
PS 34 M - ARTS+ACTION 5th graders with NY City Council Members and environmental leaders speaking on why styrofoam should be banned; NY City Hall, November, 2013.
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Watch all our videos on YouTube here->
PS 20 M - ARTS+ACTION - Make Change Messaging with 2nd grade class, constructing a giant polar bear puppet from used foam trays.
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MS 246 Brooklyn, 8th graders interviewing neighbors about litter and environmental justice, East Flatbush, 2014.
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PS 34 M 5th graders celebrating the end of NYC school polystyrene era and NYC's zero waste goals, Union Square, June 2015
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Cafeteria Culture's Media and Cafeteria Ranger Program Director, Atsuko Quirk, and Executive Director /Founder, Debby Lee Cohen, accepting the UL Innovative Education Award at the UL headquarters in IL, August 2015.
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Cafeteria Culture accepting the 1st place award at the NYC Green Festival, Jacob Javits Center, April 2015.
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