Did you know that school lunches across the nation produce approximately 7-10 pieces of plastic per lunch? Did you know that if every US school reduced just 2 pieces of plastic per school lunch each day, 10 billion pieces of plastic per school year could be eliminated?  We are learning more and more each day on the toll of plastic on human and environmental health.

McSisters strongly support the work of a fabulous organization called Cafeteria Culture and have posted about their work many times in our blogs. They are getting ready for the next national “Plastic Free Lunch Day” created by the remarkable students of PS-15 in Brooklyn. 

Please review the following information directly from Marjorie Duverge, CU Administrative Coordinator about how to prepare for the next nationwide Plastic Free Lunch Day (now a week).

Please help schools ditch single-use plastics in cafeteria food packaging and foodware. This spring, Cafeteria Culture and the Urban School Food Alliance will host the fourth biannual Plastic Free Lunch Day on April 17 - 24, and all schools are invited!

Will you pass this information on to educators in your community? Together, we can turn off the plastic tap!

Nationwide, schools serve 7.35 billion meals annually, often with 7-10 single-use plastics in a single meal. And because there is no effective waste management strategy for plastics, they are with us forever. 

Plastic Free Lunch Day (PFLD) is a great opportunity for students to lead a doable no-cost plastic reduction action and provide a positive response to eco-anxiety about climate and plastic pollution. PFLD has powerful ripple effects! And we have plenty of free how-to materials to get you started:

o Movie Screening. Show our award-winning (and very engaging!) student-led film Microplastic Madness in your classroom March 1 - April 30, 2024. Sign up here for a free screening.

o Easy Action Options. Check out all the ideas in our Quick Start K-12 & College Student packet. There’s an action for everyone!  More resources at www.PlasticFreeLunch.org.  

o Talk to us! We love to hear from you! Please share your ideas and suggestions with us.

We hope you’ll join us in taking meaningful climate and plastic pollution action with students on Earth Day 2024!

Thank you for your consideration!

Sincere regards,
Marjorie Duverge and team
Administrative Coordinator
Cafeteria Culture 
www.cafeteriaculture.org
Youtube: CafCu Media 
twitter @cafeteriacu, like us: FB  

Empowering youth to achieve zero waste schools, plastic free waters and climate-smart communities with media, arts, citizen science, and civic action.

What can you do?

• Introduce plastic free lunch day to friends, family, colleagues who may be teachers or students.

• Offer to help host a movie showing of Microplastic Madness.

• Stay tuned next week for part II of this blog.