Girls convince school district to go Styrofoam-free - New York News | NYC Breaking News

It doesn't matter how old you are. If you want to change the world you can. Just ask three Girl Scouts -- through hard work and persistence, they made a big change at schools in the Tempe School District.

They convinced it to switch from Styrofoam to cardboard trays in all its cafeterias.

This is Tai Christensen, Rebekah McFarland and Juliet Farr. They worked together to make the district switch from Styrofoam to cardboard trays. The movement was spearheaded by something Juliet's teacher said.

"She told me Styrofoam is very bad for the environment and so I thought about it and I was like, you're right it is very bad," says Juliet.

The first thing the girls did was come up with a plan. Then they took their idea to the top of the food chain.

"They actually wrote me a letter and invited me to a presentation," said Linda Rider, Director of Nutritional Services.

"Sometimes you don't want to keep writing letters but you know you just have to keep doing it and you know you just have to keep going on with the project," says Juliet.

"They pursued this for over two years with me back and forth," said Rider.

Eventually the girls won the district over.

"They were great to work with, they were very professional, they were respectful, they looked at options, they listened," said Rider.

Originally the girls only wanted to make a change at just their elementary school -- but then decided to think bigger.

"We realized that the whole school district could be using this and then the school board thought that was a good idea."

Now every school in the Tempe district has made the switch.

"I feel really happy, that instead of old gunky Styrofoam trays that actually break when they just fall on the floor, now they have these new clean trays that are made from recycled paper that are very good for them," says Juliet.

The school district is currently not recycling the cardboard trays. But they can be composted at facilities here in the valley and the district is working with them and hopes to be recycling the trays soon.