Ditching Disposables Toolkit
ResourcesToolkit Contents
This Section:
Resources
Additional Case Studies and Project Reports:
- Reuse for Onsite Dining Library: a comprehensive resource for advocates, schools & businesses, governments, elected officials, and anyone who would like to make disposable-free dining the new normal.
- Upstream K-12 School Case Study Compilation: A library of case studies from schools across the country reporting on their reusable cafeteria projects
Resources for Students to Get Involved:
- Student Voice in Zero-Waste Advocacy– An activist guide by and for high-school students on how to take the first steps to advocate for sustainable cafeteria transformations
- Video Examples of Students Presenting to School Boards
- Berkeley 2025 – Timestamp 4:00 – 14:00
- Mountain View Whisman 2025 – Timestamp 2:20-22:00
Resources for Parents to Get Involved:
Other Resources:
- Example Reusable Foodware School Newsletter Announcement: An example newsletter message from a school in Albany, CA to parents to spread awareness of upcoming changes in the cafeteria
Webinar and Discussion Group Resources:
- CEH’s Ditching Disposables: How Schools Can Work With Non-Toxic Reuse webinar recording
- CEH’s monthly National School Foodware Call: Monthly discussion group aimed at those in the K-12 school cafeteria space (including parents, teachers, school-admin, zero-waste organizations, and more) with the goal of creating a space for collaboration, resource sharing, and gathering feedback in addition to hosting informational presentations and speakers
Allied Organizations:
- Last Plastic Straw: A project dedicated to large scale shifts away from disposable culture, this organization has many great advocacy resources including film screening opportunities and student-led online discussion groups
- CafeteriaCulture: Leader of Plastic Free Lunch Day, a nationwide event aimed to reduce the wide-spread use of plastic foodware. Website includes toolkit with various resources such as outreach materials, lesson plans, and implementation guides to take action and get involved with the movement
- ReThink Disposables: A program of Clean Water Action and Clean Water Fund, their aim is to stop trash before it starts. Website includes case studies to school districts across the country that have taken on sustainable cafeteria initiatives
- Lunch Assist: Paid service aimed at nutrition directors or managers, host a monthly call, the Lunch Break that covers a wide variety of cafeteria related topic
Grant Resources:
City Incentive Programs for Reuse (Upstream’s Incentives & Grants Tracker): this is an open-source tracker that focuses on municipal incentive programs for reuse and state/provincial/federal grants that drive source reduction of single-use products and packaging. In this tracker, you’ll find grants related “Reduce” and “Reuse”.
Plastic Free Restaurants: eliminates petroleum-based, single-use plastic and PFAS-containing fiber-based foodware from schools by subsidizing the purchase of reusable replacements.
The following are a few examples of grants to help you in your search or that may be applicable for your district.
- Grants in Alameda County (CA)
- Grants in Dakota County (MN)
- Kitchen Infrastructure and Training Funds (CA)
- USDA Partnerships for Local Agriculture & Nutrition Transformation in Schools (PLANTS)
- CA Department of Education Commercial Dishwasher Grant (The grant application period ended in early April 2024 but this is an example of what other states could be doing to support increased adoption of reusables in K12 schools)