Plastic Free Lunch Day was ​started by students in Cafeteria Culture's program at PS 15 in Brooklyn!
Eliminate all single-use plastic for one day
or start with just one plastic-free action.
Next Plastic Free Lunch Day - April 21st ~ April 25, 2025!
Please join Cafeteria Culture for the sixth biannual Plastic Free Lunch Day (PFLD)!
Over 3,000 schools across the country participated in November 2024.
(PFLD will return in November 2025 – stay tuned for our announcement of dates.)
Over 3,000 schools across the country participated in November 2024.
(PFLD will return in November 2025 – stay tuned for our announcement of dates.)
Plastic Free Lunch Toolkit
for teachers, students, cafeteria food service professionals, workplaces & community organizations
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The first Plastic Free Lunch Day (PFLD) was spearheaded by fifty-six PS 15 fifth-graders in Red Hook Brooklyn, as portrayed in Cafeteria Culture’s award-winning student-led movie, Microplastic Madness. On PFLD, students eliminated plastic utensils, drinking cups, and condiment packets. Students conducted a before and after waste audit and on PFLD counted 558 fewer lunchtime single-use plastic items! On May 16, 2022, Cafeteria Culture in partnership with NYC Department of Education (Office of Food and Nutrition Services & Office of Sustainability), and students led the first New York City-wide Plastic Free Lunch Day.
School lunches were prepared without plastic in over 750 NYC elementary schools! It's Possible!
School lunches were prepared without plastic in over 750 NYC elementary schools! It's Possible!
Why bother for just one day?
- One action leads to more action!
- Your school community can see what change looks like.
- A collective action builds community and creates a we-can-do mentality.
- Students can collect before and after data/photos and use them to inform and persuade.
- A collective action creates joy and relieves climate-anxiety.
Watch and share this short videos to learn more. ⬇︎
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Latest article about NYC PFLD, November 22nd, 2024
NEW YORK CITY – New York City schools participated in the fifth biannual Plastic Free Lunch Day earlier this week, as part of a growing national effort to eliminate single-use plastics in school cafeterias across the country. READ MORE |
Easy Start - K-12 Schools
4 steps for plastic-free action & engagement
Click on each step
1. LEARN ABOUT THE PLASTIC POLLUTION PROBLEM
A: Show the "Get Ready" video and use our "Why Plastic Free Lunch Day? The Problem with Plastic" overview slides with discussion prompts. Get your students excited to be a part of a plastic free action day!
Slide Deck in Spanish: Traducido 1. ¿Por qué Día de Almuerzo sin Plástico? - El Problema con el Plástico
Slide Deck in Spanish: Traducido 1. ¿Por qué Día de Almuerzo sin Plástico? - El Problema con el Plástico
B: Show our award winning movie,
Microplastic Madness
Free for all K-12 schools Oct-Nov 2023 ->
You will receive the link automatically after completing this short form.
Spanish-Subtitled Version available
Always free for Title 1 or under-resourced schools
Microplastic Madness
Free for all K-12 schools Oct-Nov 2023 ->
You will receive the link automatically after completing this short form.
Spanish-Subtitled Version available
Always free for Title 1 or under-resourced schools
Plastic threatens health & environment. And many plastics are unnecessary. That means we don’t have to use them! Screen our award-winning student-led movie Microplastic Madness in your school or classroom.
Watch the movie trailer here ->
Watch the movie trailer here ->
- Screen the movie (76 minutes) with your class, Green Team, club or entire school to educate and inspire action! Choose to watch in 2, 3, or 5 parts, or show the entire movie at once.
- Use our free Movie Companion Guide & Discussion Questions.
C: Do an easy "Plastic Search" in your cafeteria!
Single-use PLASTIC SEARCH, an easy observation activity
- Individual student activity for lunch period with a follow-up lesson plan (Lesson Plan (PDF, 3 pages with Teacher Notes) and Worksheet (PDF, 1 page)
2. Make a PLAN
Meet with your principal and school food manager to find out if your school is participating on Nov 8th. If not, request a Plastic Free Lunch Day or a plastic free action day at your school.
Here are some ideas: (scroll down to "Easy Plastic Free Actions" a complete list)
- Provide dressings & condiments in bulk (such as refillable pump jars) rather that in individual packages
- Wrap sandwiches in bulk rather that individually every day
- Make all pizza menus days plastic-free
- Make all "hand-held" menu days (i.e. burger, taco, burrito, egg roll) plastic free days too!
- Offer more menu items that do not require utensils (burrito, burger, tacos, oranges, bananas)
More ACTION PLAN IDEAS for PFLD ->
Here are some ideas: (scroll down to "Easy Plastic Free Actions" a complete list)
- Plastic Free Lunch Day: On one day, eliminate all lunchtime single-use plastics (if your school is not already participating on November 8, 2023)
- Plastic Free ____ Day - Simplify the day with a focus on reducing just one kind of single-use plastic packaging, such as a:
-- straws (students teach students: do we need them?)
-- condiment packets (dispense from squeeze bottles or spoon/ladle onto student plates)
-- utensils (bring utensils from home or choose a hand-held food menu)
-- chip bags (serve by "bulk" onto student plates)
-- water cups (bring water bottles from home/ hold a fundraiser to purchase) - Lead a "Skip The Stuff" or "Take Only What You Need" day - On one day, dispense utensils, napkins, and other single-use items by request only instead of automatically serving with each meal (printable posters below).
- Lead a plastic free campaign to inform your school community about the plastic pollution problem and to persuade your community to reduce single-use plastics.
- Encourage plastic-free home lunch and store bought lunch
- Make signs
- Promote reusables with a "Bring Your Own" campaign for water bottles, utensils, napkins, and more
- Meet with your school food manager to discuss reducing single-use plastics on one Plastic Free Lunch Day and then every day. Suggestions can include:
- Provide dressings & condiments in bulk (such as refillable pump jars) rather that in individual packages
- Wrap sandwiches in bulk rather that individually every day
- Make all pizza menus days plastic-free
- Make all "hand-held" menu days (i.e. burger, taco, burrito, egg roll) plastic free days too!
- Offer more menu items that do not require utensils (burrito, burger, tacos, oranges, bananas)
More ACTION PLAN IDEAS for PFLD ->
3. PROMOTE A PLASTIC FREE LUNCH DAY
or a plastic free Action
or a plastic free Action
- Create signs (or print out the signs in Resources" below) and post them around the school and in the cafeteria.
- Ask for a slot during Morning Announcements to explain the idea & plan.
- Arrange for students to visit all classrooms to explain the idea & plan to other students.
- Present at a PTA meeting. Ask parents to support school (not home) lunches on the action day.
- Request that Plastic Free Lunch Day be added to the school calendar.
- Set up an info-table in the cafeteria.
- Set up a sorting station (or improve the ones that already exist) and monitor the stations to increase awareness (use our SORT2save/Cafeteria Ranger resources for setting up sorting stations with student monitors).
More ACTION PLAN IDEAS for PFLD ->
4. COLLECT DATA & Publicize your success!
Take Photos (this is easy!)
- Before and After Plastic Free Lunch Day, take photos of your plastic waste and SHARE to inspire others.
- Before and After any plastic reduction action, take photos of your plastic waste or recycling or compost (or all of them) and SHARE to inspire others.
("After" means the day-of PLASTIC FREE LUNCH or another plastic reduction day, at the end of the lunch period)
Publicize your success with your before and after data & photos.
Or
Conduct a CAFETERIA PLASTIC SURVEY
Students collect & count single-use plastic in their cafeteria
Instructions for Lunch or Breakfast Survey
Single-use Plastic Pollution Problem
in a snapshot
Why DO we need #plasticfreelunch?
The world is awash in toxic and polluting single-use plastics made from hazardous chemicals and climate-damaging fossil fuels that are contaminating our ecosystems, our communities and our bodies. The US creates more plastic waste than any other nation and it never goes away. It degrades into tiny microplastics and then nanoplastics. Scientists have found microplastics in the deepest parts of the ocean, and in our soil, food, water and air, and in our bodies.
380 million metric tons of plastic are produced each year.
The US plastic recycling rate has dropped below 6%!
US Schools serve 7.35 billion meals annually. Those meals are packed with non-biodegradable Single-use plastics (SUPs) that make a significant contribution to the US plastic waste stream and the staggering global plastic pollution problem. Most of those SUPs end up in a landfill or environment.
Plastic Free Lunch Day provides students an opportunity to learn about plastic pollution and take meaningful plastic-reduction action. One plastic free day leads to another and creates a vision and actionable ideas to move forward equitably and sustainably.
380 million metric tons of plastic are produced each year.
The US plastic recycling rate has dropped below 6%!
US Schools serve 7.35 billion meals annually. Those meals are packed with non-biodegradable Single-use plastics (SUPs) that make a significant contribution to the US plastic waste stream and the staggering global plastic pollution problem. Most of those SUPs end up in a landfill or environment.
Plastic Free Lunch Day provides students an opportunity to learn about plastic pollution and take meaningful plastic-reduction action. One plastic free day leads to another and creates a vision and actionable ideas to move forward equitably and sustainably.
1o reasons to take plastic free, climate action
- Making & disposing of plastic is fueling the climate crisis.
- Plastics are made from fossil fuels.
- Plastics are the 5th largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions.
- Less than 6% of plastic is recycled in the US.
- Plastic kills 100,000 marine animals every year.
- The US creates more plastic waste than any other nation.
- Plastic never goes away. It degrades into tiny microplastics.
- Scientists have found microplastics in the deepest parts of the ocean, and in our soil, food, water and air.
- Recent studies have also found microplastics in our bodies: our gut, our tissues, our poop, our blood, the deepest parts of our lungs!
- We are all eating and breathing microplastics.
What is a Single-Use Plastic and Why is it a Problem?
Each year, we produce over 350 million metric tons of plastic; more than 40% of this is single-use plastic--plastic packaging and foodware that is used for less than 20 minutes. Because plastic is not recyclable, most discarded plastic is sent to landfills or "leaks" into the natural environment.
Plastic does not biodegrade. Instead it breaks or fragments into small particles called microplastics and then into smaller particles called nanoplastics. Because plastic is made from fossil fuels and thousands of persistent toxic chemicals, they transfer thousands of migrating chemicals into our food during use. After disposal and fragmentation, plastic particles carry and distribute these toxic chemicals to every inch of the globe.
Scientists have found micro and nanoplastics in our digestive tract, deep in our lung tissue, in the placenta, and circulating in our blood. Nanoplastics deliver thousands of toxic chemicals directly to the organs, tissues, and cells in our bodies. We now face the public health crisis of our time.
School cafeterias serve over 40 million meals a day and make a large contribution to the plastic waste stream. School cafeterias are a great place to begin reducing single-use plastics, while also protecting the health of our students--society's most vulnerable members. Plastic free lunch day is a first step that results in useful photos and data but, most importantly, it shows everyone that food-dispensing and eating does not require plastic!
Plastic does not biodegrade. Instead it breaks or fragments into small particles called microplastics and then into smaller particles called nanoplastics. Because plastic is made from fossil fuels and thousands of persistent toxic chemicals, they transfer thousands of migrating chemicals into our food during use. After disposal and fragmentation, plastic particles carry and distribute these toxic chemicals to every inch of the globe.
Scientists have found micro and nanoplastics in our digestive tract, deep in our lung tissue, in the placenta, and circulating in our blood. Nanoplastics deliver thousands of toxic chemicals directly to the organs, tissues, and cells in our bodies. We now face the public health crisis of our time.
School cafeterias serve over 40 million meals a day and make a large contribution to the plastic waste stream. School cafeterias are a great place to begin reducing single-use plastics, while also protecting the health of our students--society's most vulnerable members. Plastic free lunch day is a first step that results in useful photos and data but, most importantly, it shows everyone that food-dispensing and eating does not require plastic!
Cafeteria Plastic Reduction = Savings!
Easy Implementations for one day & every day!
The May 2022 New York Citywide PFLD showed that several easy school food service changes can result in cost savings (see our PFLD Cost-savings)..
Meet with your school food manager to ask for these changes:
Easy Implementations for one day & every day!
The May 2022 New York Citywide PFLD showed that several easy school food service changes can result in cost savings (see our PFLD Cost-savings)..
Meet with your school food manager to ask for these changes:
- replace single-use condiment packets with bulk service of sauces/dressings
- wrap sandwiches in bulk (put in serving trays with an aluminum foil cover instead of individually wrapped with plastic film); and
- offer plastic utensils "by request only."
In the News!
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CBS News- April 24, 2023 Plastic Free Lunch Day movement spreading across the country⬇︎ |
ABC7 news Students from Red Hook create Plastic Free Lunch Day, schools participate nationwide Nov 2, 2022 |
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Thank you Urban School Food Alliance districts, New York City, Dallas, San Diego, Baltimore, Philadelphia, DeKalb County GA, Portland OR, Chicago, Miami-Dade County and schools across the US for joining the 2022-23 school year Plastic Free Lunch Day USA action! Map of participants -> Is your school/school district on board? Get started with our free resources-> |
Share your PLASTIC FREE LUNCH DAY stories with us! Inspire others to take plastic free action! Post your actions on social media and tag us: Twitter @CafeteriaCu IG @CafCu FB CafeteriaCulture TikTok @CafeteriaCu #plasticfreelunch #cafcu |
Are you on board?
Share our "Get Ready" video to bring others on board
Easy Plastic Free (Lunch)
Actions for every day!
NO PLASTIC ______ DAY!
Simplify the day with a focus on reducing just one kind of single-use plastic packaging, such as a:
- NO PLASTIC STRAW DAY (more ideas for reducing plastic straws ->)
- NO CONDIMENT PACKET DAY - ask your school food manager if they can serve condiments in refillable containers or dispensers.
We suggest always starting with a before survey (or audit).
Example: the steps for a "NO PLASTIC STRAW DAY":
- 1 - Set out a box and sign to collect all the plastic straws used ruing one lunch period or during all school lunch periods.
- 2 - Count the straws and photograph all the straws (lay them out on a dark background).
- 3 - Publicize the number of straws collected on that one day and the date of your NO PLASTIC STRAW DAY"
- 4 - On the day of the initiative, once again collect any plastic straws and photograph
- 5 - Make posters with the 'before" and "after" data and photos
- 6 - Interview students and staff to find out what others suggest to do next to reduce single-use plastics and other packaging.
- NO PLASTIC STRAW DAY (more ideas for reducing plastic straws ->)
- NO CONDIMENT PACKET DAY - ask your school food manager if they can serve condiments in refillable containers or dispensers.
We suggest always starting with a before survey (or audit).
Example: the steps for a "NO PLASTIC STRAW DAY":
- 1 - Set out a box and sign to collect all the plastic straws used ruing one lunch period or during all school lunch periods.
- 2 - Count the straws and photograph all the straws (lay them out on a dark background).
- 3 - Publicize the number of straws collected on that one day and the date of your NO PLASTIC STRAW DAY"
- 4 - On the day of the initiative, once again collect any plastic straws and photograph
- 5 - Make posters with the 'before" and "after" data and photos
- 6 - Interview students and staff to find out what others suggest to do next to reduce single-use plastics and other packaging.
BRING YOUR OWN ______ DAY!
- BRING YOUR OWN FORK (and napkin) DAY
- BRING YOUR CUP or REUSABLE BOTTLE DAY
- BRING YOUR CUP or REUSABLE BOTTLE DAY
From the movie, "Microplastic Madness"
lead a "TAKE ONLY WHAT YOU NEED Day"/ #SkipTheStuff
- Make creative signage to encourage plastic waste reduction or use the flyer provided (above) and place near dispensers.
- Ask teachers to remind students just before lunch.
- Make announcements!
- Lead a before count of plastic utensils thrown away on a single day, start your campaign, then do an after count. Compare and publicize results.
- Ask teachers to remind students just before lunch.
- Make announcements!
- Lead a before count of plastic utensils thrown away on a single day, start your campaign, then do an after count. Compare and publicize results.
PROMOTE A REUSE CULTURE - EVERYDAY!
Ask your food service manager to:
- Offer plastic utensils by request only on days when pizza, burritos, and other hand-held foods are served. Salad bars can be stocked with cut vegetables.
- Serve all condiments and sauces in reusable dispensers or bottles.
- If your meals come packaged with the utensils, ask to try a new method of offering utensils.
- If your utensils and napkins come together in plastic wrap, ask for individual utensils and napkins!
- Offer plastic utensils by request only on days when pizza, burritos, and other hand-held foods are served. Salad bars can be stocked with cut vegetables.
- Serve all condiments and sauces in reusable dispensers or bottles.
- If your meals come packaged with the utensils, ask to try a new method of offering utensils.
- If your utensils and napkins come together in plastic wrap, ask for individual utensils and napkins!
GRATITUDE DAY!
"Thank your kitchen and custodial staff and school cafeteria aides!
- Hang up special "thank you' posters in the cafeteria with staff names.
- Encourage students to say "please" and "thank you" in the food line.
- Make a special "thank you" announcement at the end of the lunch period and invite kitchen and custodial staff to join you!
- Thank kitchen and custodial staff during school assemblies and recognize the work they do for the school community.
Showing gratitude supports positive change-making and builds community! For inspiration, show our video, "School Lunch in Japan- it's not just about eating" (34 million views on YouTube!)
- Hang up special "thank you' posters in the cafeteria with staff names.
- Encourage students to say "please" and "thank you" in the food line.
- Make a special "thank you" announcement at the end of the lunch period and invite kitchen and custodial staff to join you!
- Thank kitchen and custodial staff during school assemblies and recognize the work they do for the school community.
Showing gratitude supports positive change-making and builds community! For inspiration, show our video, "School Lunch in Japan- it's not just about eating" (34 million views on YouTube!)
More PLASTIC FREE ACTIONS for school, work, and COmmunity!
- Hold a fundraiser to buy reusable bottles or utensils for all students.
- Create an education campaign to promote reduction of single-use plastics and reusables for home and store bought lunches.
- Create an education campaign focused on reducing a specific single-use plastic item and offer solutions.
- Create a utensil/packet/straw "by request only" action; meet with your principal and school food manager to ask that these plastic items not be given out automatically. Create signs and an information campaign. (see signs below in "Resource" section or make your own and share with us)
- Conduct a survey of plastic waste or street/beach litter at school/work/community to inform & persuade. (use our "DIY: DATA +ACTION litter clean up" guide!)
- Create banners, posters or flyers about single use plastics to inform students, school staff and community to #uselessplastic.
- Create an art installation or giant puppets using single use plastics as 3 dimensional data to inform & persuade.
- Perform a theater piece, poetry, or music (on the streets or indoors) to engage new audiences on the plastic pollution issues and reduction.
- Learn about local/state plastic-reduction bills/proposals and ask to meet with your local and state legislators to inform & persuade. Sharing your data helps! (find some NY and US bills ->)
- Start planning now for a spring 2023 Plastic Free Lunch Day!
- Lead a "Write a Letter to the Editor" campaign or teach a lesson with our guidelines.
- Write a letter to your principal, school food manager, and school board to request future Plastic Free Lunch Days as regular weekly or monthly menu days! (see our Sample Letter to the Principal ->)
- Ask to present to PTA and school baord,
Photo Gallery
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Students at PS15K in NYC collecting data with the "Single-use Plastic Search" worksheets
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ABOUT CAFETERIA CULTURE
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Cafeteria Culture was founded as the grassroots STYROFOAM OUT OF SCHOOLS campaign in 2009. Students, parents and school food directors came together to find creative solutions to rid NYC school cafeterias of 850,000 styrofoam trays thrown away per day.
The result: VICTORY! Working together, we catalyzed the complete elimination of a half a BILLION styrofoam trays per year from incinerators, landfills and student meals in schools across the US. Together, we can win this next environmental and health victory and dramatically decrease single-use plastics in school cafeterias everywhere! |
Youth Rally to Ban Foam, NY City Hall, 2018, as seen in "Microplastic Madness" Photo: Erik Mcgregor
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