Ocean Friendly Restaurants Hawaiʻi

(previously “Foam Free Future”)

The Foam Free Future project was started by four Huliau students at the end of 2014 in response to a deceptive media campaign by the American Chemistry Council defending EPS (“styrofoam”) take-out containers.  The focus of the project is to work with community partners to help local business find eco-friendly alternatives to EPS foam take-out containers.  In early 2015, the students created two short films, an educational brochure, and a website which they used to begin outreach to businesses. In 2016 we joined forced with Surfrider Foundation and various other Hawaiʻi-based non-profits to bring Surfriderʻs Ocean Friendly Restaurants program to Hawaiʻi. Foam Free Future at that point became part of that Surfrider program and our students have worked with them to certify restaurants statewide. You can see the new Ocean Friendly Restaurants Hawaiʻi website here.  For the past three years, Huliau students have traveled to the Plastic Ocean Pollution Solutions youth summit in California to present their work and meet other youth from around the world who are also working to prevent plastic ocean pollution.