You don’t have to be an adult to bring about change in your community. Kids can do it too. Students in Pleasant Valley, New York, recently helped make a new law!
Last spring, third-graders at Joseph D’Aquanni West Road Intermediate School learned that foam cups and food containers cause problems for the environment. This foam is a form of polystyrene (pah-lee-STY-reen). It’s often called styrofoam. It’s hard to recycle and doesn’t break down over time as easily as some other kinds of trash do.
With help from their teacher, Barbara Kurdziel, the kids wrote letters to leaders in their county. They proposed a law banning foam cups and containers in restaurants.
It worked! In November, the county legislature passed a law that says many restaurants in the area can’t use polystyrene.
“This law is important to me,” says student Samantha Harris. “We live in this world and it is our job to take care of it.”