Working creatively with youth to achieve zero waste, climate-smart communities and a plastic free biosphere.
Cafeteria Culture
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TRASH FREE WATERS local action, global impact
TRASH FREE WATERS local action, global impact

Environmental education
 with youth-leadership, citizen science, civic action,
media + arts
​
(scroll down to watch the program in action!)

COMING SOON!
Cafeteria Culture's  free PLASTIC FREE WATERS TOOLKIT
Teachers -
sign up here
​for a sneak preview  of the  Plastic Free Waters curriculum 
!

Watch: "We are Citizen Scientists" on Vimeo ->; students from PS 15 Patrick F. Daly in Red Hook, Brooklyn take to the streets ti collect litter and data!
Watch "KIDS EXERCISE DEMOCRACY!
5th graders testify on plastic litter wastewater" 
on Vimeo here ->

Students collect data, debate the issues, and then take action,
​using their own local data to inform policy!

Watch "Got Reusable Bags?"  and see the program in action:

Watch: "Got Reusable Bags?" on Vimeo -> ; be inspired by this program with 7th grade students from MS 246 Walt Whitman in E. Flatbush, Brooklyn!
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@cafcu

Youth-led Action!

Youth Rally at City Hall to ban foam
and for plastic-free oceans 

200 students from across NYC took action on World Oceans Day (2018) and their voices were heard!

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NYC styrofoam ban goes into effect
with student action!

NYC Styrofoam Ban begins - students celebrate with Mayor and Commissioner from Cafeteria Culture on Vimeo.


​(See more: CafCu's Community Arts+Media for Trash Free Waters program ->)

youth-made videos
on Plastic Free Waters


Our students debate, ask questions, collect data, and tell their own powerful stories about how local plastic street litter becomes global toxic marine pollution, threatening our oceans and marine wildlife.
Watch "Dear Humans" on YouTube; Watch on Vimeo -> (made by 4th grade students from PS15 Patrick F Daly, Brooklyn, NY)
Watch "#SaveOurOcean - Your Litter is Killing Marine Life" on Vimeo -> 
​(edited by a 7th grade student from MS246 Walt Whitman, Brooklyn, NY)


​Cafeteria Culture empowers youth with
the knowledge & tools to design and pilot 
community-based solutions
that have a global impact
​to reduce plastics in our waterways.

​
Watch LITTER MONSTERS on Vimeo here ->  (​made by 5th grade students from PS34 Franklin D. Roosevelt, Manhattan, NY)
Cafeteria Culture's Plastic Free Waters programs teach students leadership, civics, storytelling, and video production skills.

Students  learn to think critically about real world environmental problems and to instigate their ow creative messaging to isnpire and educate their communities, for local policy makers, and for the entire world! 
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Watch THE FLAWS OF STRAWS on Vimeo here -> (​made by 8th grade student from MS246 Walt Whitman, Brooklyn, NY)
Watch "East Flatbush Litter #SaveACritter" on Vimeo -> (​made by 8th grade student from MS246 Walt Whitman, Brooklyn, NY))
Are there microplastics in the fish we eat?
How do tiny microbeads from our body care products get into the ocean?
​

Watch "the Story of Alaina and Joe" on Vimeo ->  (​made by 8th grade student from MS246 Walt Whitman, Brooklyn, NY)
Watch "The Dark Beauty of the Beads - #beadfree" on Vimeo -> ​ (​made by 8th grade student from MS246 Walt Whitman, Brooklyn, NY)
, "I did look at the Cafeteria Culture videos. The cool thing about it is that the kids in the video look like the kids that we are bringing today. The faces are familiar. If they see kids like them doing something good, hopefully it gives them more of a push to come out and do the same good as the kids they see in the video.The videos ultimately made another connection between what we are doing in the class and what we are doing out here [North Channel Beach]."
                  
Nneka Wallace, Science Teacher, Victory Collegiate High School, Brooklyn, NY, from interview at Jamaica Bay while conducting a beach litter survey with her students 
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Watch "Keep It Wavy, Keep It Clean" on Vimeo -> (​made by 8th grade student from MS246 Walt Whitman, Brooklyn, NY)

How does our plastic street litter become deadly marine pollution?


​On rainy days, the increase of storm water runoff forces street litter in many of our NYC neighborhoods (and over 700 other US municipalities) to flow into our sewer systems, where it mixes with our sewage, and then flows directly out to our local waterways and beyond.

Watch "The Journey of Plastic Litter - Do you know where your bottle cap goes?"  - created by 8th grade students from MS 246 Walt Whitman in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.

Many of our PLASTIC FREE WATERS videos have been created by 5th - 8th grade students in our programs. This curriculum is a part of Cafeteria Culture’s interdisciplinary environmental education, ARTS + MEDIA for PLASTIC FREE WATERS School Program.
​
Watch "The Journey of Plastic Litter" on Vimeo -> ​ (​made by 8th grade student from MS246 Walt Whitman, Brooklyn, NY)
Watch "A message from 8th grade filmmakers about marine pollution" 
​on Vimeo -> 
 (​co-created with 8th grade student from MS246 Walt Whitman, Brooklyn, NY)

Youth Take Action on the NYC Plastic Bag Bill

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Shahzia, Rachel, Nerlande and Taina, 8th grade students from MS 246 Walt Whitman, at NY City Hall with Council Member Brad Lander, sharing personal view points on plastic litter issues. (2016)
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Eighth grade students from MS 246 Walt Whitman interview neighbors about street litter and plastic marine pollution.
PS34 5th grade students studied NYC's single-use carryout bag bill, debated both sides, then took ACTION for a greener, cleaner NYC and plastic free oceans. Watch "5th Grade Change-makers Take Action..." on Vimeo ->
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Rebeca, Tompkins Square Middle School student, CafCu ARTS+ACTION program alum (PS34m), speaking at City Hall!
 More about youth-led action on NYC's bag bill


Global Partnerships for Plastic Free Waters!
Watch: Kids in Tokyo and NYC Share a Message about Marine Litter

Watch "Kids in Tokyo & NYC..." on Vimeo->

(See more: CafCu's Community Arts+Media for Platsic Free Waters program ->)

Why PLASTIC FREE WATERS education?

  • New Yorkers use and discard 10 billion single-use carryout bags per year!
  • In New York City, on rainy days or after snowstorms, large amounts of water can cause plastic street litter to wash into our sewer systems and out to our local waterways, eventually ending up in the ocean.
  • Plastic bags, utensils, and straws are the most common debris (litter) items found during beach cleanups.
  • 80% of plastics found in the oceans comes from land based sources. 
  • Many marine animals, birds, and fish consume plastic, either because they mistake it for food or ingest it accidentally. 
  • Marine plastic pollution has impacted at least 267 species worldwide, including 86% of all sea turtle species, 44% of all seabird species and 43% of all marine mammal species. The impacts include fatalities (death) as a result of ingestion (eating), starvation, suffocation, infection, drowning, and entanglement.
  • Every minute, the equivalent of one truck load of garbage is dumped into the oceans worldwide. If no action is taken, this is expected to increase to two garbage track loads per minute by 2030 and four truck loads per minute by 2050.
  • Plastic litter does not biodegrade (or break down into organic material). Instead, it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, due to sunlight and physical factors (like waves), becoming microplastics. 
  • ​NYC spends $12.5 MILLION a year just to send ​91,000 tons of thrown away plastic bags to landfills and incinerators every year!
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Students from MS 246 Walt Whitman participating in a beach litter survey and clean up at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, the only US National Park with a subway running thru it!
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(See more: CafCu's Community Arts+Media for Platsic Free Waters program ->)

Youth Citizen Scientists! 

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MS246 Walt Whitman 7th graders collect street litter data in East Flatbush
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PS15 Patrick F Daly 4th graders collect street litter data in Red Hook Brooklyn
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NEST+M third graders conduct a street litter survey of their school block.
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PS34 M Franklin D Roosevelt School 5th grade students collect and survey litter omnAve. D in Alphabet City, Manhattan

Learn more about plastic free action you can take!


See youth and community-led action on NYC's styrofoam ban here ->

Want to learn more about getting styrofoam out of your school?->


Giant Data Puppets - student messaging about styrofoam

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As part of Cafcu's ARTS+ACTION program, PS 20 M second grade students learned about the connections between garbage and climate change then, constructed a giant polar bear puppet out 500 used foam trays, collected in their cafeteria.
Learn more about CafCu's ARTS+ACTION school program here ->
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As part of cafCu's ARTS+ACTION program, 5th grade students at PS 221 K learned about styrofoam and marine pollution then, workshopped a play, built giant character puppets and performed their play for fellow students in the school playground.
See more CafCu puppets here ->
​
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Our VISION
We envision a plastic free, equitable 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. 


Cafeteria Culture (CafCu) is a Project of The Fund for the City of New York, a charitable organization.
Founded in 2009 as Styrofoam Out of Schools.
Donations to Cafeteria Culture are eligible for charitable deductions under section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code.
Cafeteria Culture is a vendor of New York City Department of Education via Fund for the City of New York

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