Organize a plastic-free campaign at your school
A step-by-step playbook for students who want to organize a strawless or plastic-free campaign on their campus. Drawn from the Strawless In Seattle methodology.
Step 1: Pick your scope
The single most-important early decision. Three common scopes:
- Cafeteria-only: targets the school cafeteria for plastic-straw or single-use plastic reduction. Easiest to win.
- Whole-campus: includes vending, athletic events, on-campus cafés. Bigger impact, longer timeline.
- Curriculum/awareness: a teaching campaign without operational change. Easier to win but lower impact.
For a first campaign, pick cafeteria-only. You can scale later.
Step 2: Build the team
Three roles minimum:
- The organizer (you). Drives the campaign, coordinates everyone else.
- The faculty sponsor. A teacher who gives institutional credibility. Find one before approaching administration.
- A student council or club ally. Provides existing organizational structure and access to school communications.
4–6 additional student volunteers gets you to the right team size for a sustained campaign.
Step 3: Get the data
Spend a week observing your cafeteria during lunch periods. Count:
- How many plastic straws are served per period
- What other single-use plastic items are served (cutlery, cups, lids)
- What proportion of students take straws vs. don't
For a typical 1,000-student high school cafeteria, the answer is usually 500–1,000 plastic straws per lunch period, 90,000–180,000 per school year. That data is your campaign's foundation.
Step 4: Propose the change
The proposal that's easiest for administration to say yes to: "by request only" service. The cafeteria continues to have plastic straws available; they just stop putting them out automatically. This:
- Saves the cafeteria money (fewer straws used)
- Doesn't require curriculum or instruction changes
- Doesn't impact the disability community (straws still available)
- Typically reduces straw consumption 50–80% with zero supply chain change
Bring your data. Lead with the cost savings.
Step 5: Add an awareness campaign in parallel
Posters in the cafeteria. Social media activity using #StopSucking. A brief assembly or homeroom presentation by the campaign team. The goal: students understand the change before it happens, so the first few days don't generate confusion.
Step 6: Implement and measure
Launch on a specific date — Earth Day in April is a natural one, or the start of a new term. Continue your daily counts for the first month so you can report actual reduction numbers.
Step 7: Expand
Once cafeteria-only is established, the next moves: cutlery, cups/lids, lunch packaging, vending machines, athletic events. Each is its own campaign. Don't try to do them all at once.
Templates and assets
The original For A Strawless Ocean toolkit includes posters, social media graphics, and a one-page primer designed exactly for this kind of campaign. Download the toolkit.
Inclusive language matters
Build accessibility into the campaign from day one. Plastic straws will remain available on request for any student who needs one — say it explicitly in your launch communications. Read why.