Cafeteria Culture (CafCu) / Styrofoam Out of Schools (SOS)

Cafeteria Culture (CafCu) / Styrofoam Out of Schools (SOS) Cafeteria Culture (CafCu) is creatively working to achieve equitable zero-waste, plastic free, and climate smart schools and communities with youth-led action.

Cafeteria Culture (CafCu), founded as Styrofoam Out of Schools in 2009, is creatively working to achieve Zero Waste cafeterias and vibrant communities in NYC public schools by first eliminating the use of polystyrene trays. We work from both the ground up and the top down to accelerate change, developing in-school ARTS+ACTION Cafeteria Waste Reduction programs, innovative pilots, and Alternative Messaging campaigns, as well as broadening government concepts of visual communication, media, and design innovation as essential factors to the process of change. An unstoppable grassroots force, Cafeteria Culture is demonstrating that collaboration, along with empowering students as eco-stewards, can reduce public resources needed for realizing climate smart solutions.

Happy birthday to our dear Founding Director, DLC The world is so lucky that she was born and that she shared her gifts ...
08/23/2026

Happy birthday to our dear Founding Director, DLC The world is so lucky that she was born and that she shared her gifts with us all. We hope to be able to honor her beautiful soul every day by keeping up the mission to center students as we work together to innovate toward equitable. zero waste. 💚💪

We are so excited to announce that the environmental justice zine created with Eighth Graders from PS/MS 188 in our prog...
07/31/2026

We are so excited to announce that the environmental justice zine created with Eighth Graders from PS/MS 188 in our program this year is going to be featured in an exhibition at the Center for Wellbeing and Happiness! 🖼️

The opening celebration will take place Saturday, August 1st from 4:30-6:30pm at 101 Avenue D. 🎈 We hope to see you there! 🤩

Eighth Graders from PS/MS 188 had a wonderful time volunteering at a local food pantry, the Center for Wellbeing and Hap...
07/01/2026

Eighth Graders from PS/MS 188 had a wonderful time volunteering at a local food pantry, the Center for Wellbeing and Happiness this semester! 🍊They participated in this activity after surveying community members on the Lower East Side about their biggest local environmental and health concerns, and found that one was lack of access to affordable fresh foods. 🍓🌽 Information about this experience was included in their zine, “Get Better LES,” focused on environmental justice problems and solutions on the Lower East Side. 📖

Have you ever wondered who really pays for your trash to be thrown away? 🤔 Students at PS/MS 46 answered this question t...
07/01/2026

Have you ever wondered who really pays for your trash to be thrown away? 🤔 Students at PS/MS 46 answered this question themselves through a role playing game. 🎖️

Different roles, including community member, store owner, mayor, landfill owner, recycling center owner, and CEO were distributed throughout the class. 🏪🧑‍⚖️ After purchasing snacks at the bodega, paying taxes to the mayor, and seeing the mayor pay companies with taxpayers’ money to take this trash away, students realized that WE are the ones paying for our trash to be thrown away, not those producing it! 💸

At PS/MS 46, students are participating in our community composting pilot. 🪱 Each week, our staff have been on site sinc...
07/01/2026

At PS/MS 46, students are participating in our community composting pilot. 🪱 Each week, our staff have been on site since October collecting food scraps from their cafeteria with students and bringing them to Compost Power’s Polo Grounds community composting site. 🍄🥕 Through this partnership, 1,659 pounds of cafeteria food scraps were locally composted this school year! 🪴

Back in 2012, Cafeteria Culture was launched with a simple but ambitious idea: center NYC students to fight plastic poll...
06/03/2026

Back in 2012, Cafeteria Culture was launched with a simple but ambitious idea: center NYC students to fight plastic pollution by mentoring them to create giant styrofoam puppets and bring their voices into public spaces. 🎭🎨 We had absolutely no funding, no track record, and no guarantee that any of it would work. ⚠️

But one organization believed in us. 🤩

The Johnson Ohana Foundation became the very first foundation to support our work, and has continued to for the past 14 years. 🫶 To celebrate this enduring partnership, we are excited to announce that the Johnson Ohana Foundation will be matching all donations to Cafeteria Culture up to $2,500, so you can double your impact by going to cafeteriaculture.org/donate. 😍

And, as part of our All At Once partnership, we are also giving away a pair of Jack Johnson concert tickets to his concert in NYC on Sunday, June 28, 2026 at the Jones Beach Theater! 🌊🎤

Email [email protected] for a chance to win tickets to see Jack Johnson in concert! Make the subject line: Jack Johnson Concert. 🎶

🎟 The winner will be announced Monday, June 15, 2026.

PS/MS 46 Fifth Graders have been hard at work mapping the journey of food waste from their school cafeteria to landfills...
05/27/2026

PS/MS 46 Fifth Graders have been hard at work mapping the journey of food waste from their school cafeteria to landfills and incinerators compared to its journey when locally composted blocks away from their school in a pilot program with . 🚛🍃 With this understanding of the harmful impacts of the industrial waste cycle, students recognize the value of composting as a community resource. 💡 And, they have seen its use first-hand in their new school garden… stay tuned for photos! 🪴

“Get Better LES” is an environmental justice-focused zine created by Eighth Graders from PS/MS 188. 🦋 After surveying th...
05/19/2026

“Get Better LES” is an environmental justice-focused zine created by Eighth Graders from PS/MS 188. 🦋 After surveying their neighbors about different environmental issues they wanted fixed in the area, we explored different solutions through hands-on activities like street tree care, volunteering at a food pantry, and meeting with local non-profit founders. 🌳🥫 Their final product creatively brings together what they learned during class, from their neighbors, and from these hands-on experiences. 🎨 To share your opinions of the major issues that need to be addressed on the Lower East Side, scan the QR code on the last page to take the survey yourself! 📝

Students in our printmaking class at the Lower Eastside Girls Club this winter learned how to do linocut and screenprint...
05/15/2026

Students in our printmaking class at the Lower Eastside Girls Club this winter learned how to do linocut and screenprinting, creating some amazing work! 🎨 Projects ranged in focus but all centered on different environmental issues, including composting, food waste, littering, landfills, and gardens. 🪴🥬 After creating their stamps and screens, the girls used them to decorate posters, postcards, t-shirts, and tote bags. 🎊

Fifth Graders at PS/MS 188 are exploring what the words “environment” and “justice” mean using drawings and word associa...
05/08/2026

Fifth Graders at PS/MS 188 are exploring what the words “environment” and “justice” mean using drawings and word association. 🎨 These terms will be the base of our lessons as they learn about how food waste impacts our health and the environment around us. 🍋🌷

Address

C/O Lower Eastside Girls Club, 402 East 8th Street
New York, NY
10009

Telephone

+13476181875

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