She started an organization called Takeout Turnaround and last summer called local restaurants and offered to help them transition from plastic and Styrofoam to more sustainable fiber-based takeout products.

Plastic products from takeaway food and drink will account for nearly half of the anthropogenically generated waste in the world’s oceans in 2021. Research published in the Nature Sustainability journal found.

Researchers found food containers, disposable bags, plastic bottles and food wrappers to be the four most common items that pollute our oceans. The survey also showed that 10 types of plastic products made up three-quarters of his litter. This is because they are widely used and degrade very slowly.

After working with Levine, a prominent Tucson restaurateur chose to go green.

The takeout turnaround has grown into a school club that other students join.

Levine also has an ear for officials in Tucson’s largest school district, and could make far-reaching changes to Pima County.

Levine, 17, says he was inspired by a mentor who was passionate about environmental initiatives. Her participation in her research-based sustainability program inspired her to take action.

“I’ve been thinking for a while, we were big consumers when it came to ordering takeout during the pandemic,” Levine said. “I have a big family, so I always carry a lot of boxes when I go out to eat.”

She researched alternatives to foam and single-use plastics piled up in trash bins and discovered a fiber-based product from a California-based company called PrimeWare.

“They are very popular. We contacted them and they sent us lots of samples,” says Levine. “They were very helpful. I am very grateful.”

From there, Levine began contacting local restaurants to gather data on the types of products they were using and the issues that made it difficult to switch to more sustainable products.

“I discovered a lot. During the pandemic, they had to regularly order from places that had them in stock, so I could stick with a wide range of brands,” she said. There was no “good selection of sustainable products”.

Restaurant owners have reported other issues as well.

“(Food) will leak out of paper packaging,” Levine said. “And some restaurants said they couldn’t advertise what they were doing, and consumers were complaining about their products.”

But the main driver was rising prices, Levine said.

Consumer reviews for PrimeWare were overwhelmingly positive, so Levine decided to go ahead and see what he could learn about pricing.

She found an accessible supplier in town, but no one was able to quote her a price. He seemed happy to accept it, but his interest waned when he realized that the price was unavailable and he would have to call the distributor himself.

Finally, someone at supplier Western Paper offered Levine a price. With the information you need, Levine is ready to get serious.

Levine next approached longtime Tucson restaurant owner and chef Daniel Scodarto. His Italian His restaurant Vivace has been a Foothills staple for years and is often on lists of America’s most romantic restaurants.

“He tried to be sustainable 10 years ago, but he dealt with a leaking container. Customers didn’t appreciate the change and it was doubling the price back then,” says Levine. . “He was already trying to do this, so it was very helpful to know what I had to do to help him.”

A joint meeting with Scordato and Western Paper revealed the right product for his new venture, Uptown Burger, 6370 N. Campbell Ave. restaurant.

Uptown opened the first weekend in December. Skoldart said his decision to go green in Uptown was based heavily on his interactions with Levine, who was “very kind and passionate” about the cause.

“It was so lovely to have a 17-year-old girl take the time to work with us.” was.

Scordato said price was a key consideration, but we were able to bring the cost of sustainable products very close to that of disposable products. He said that Uptown uses about 90 percent sustainable products in its packaging and utensils, but that number would have been much lower without Levine.

Skoldart tried to go green at his previous restaurant, Postsano, which occupied its Uptown location before it closed during the pandemic, but said the cost was too high and the quality was poor.

“I probably wouldn’t have done it if it didn’t cost more and she showed that the product was better. ‘She’s gone somewhere else.'”

Scordato takes our commitment to the environment one step further than just sustainable products. Uptown burgers are made with Piedmont beef from Midwest-based Creek His Cattle Company, which values ​​environmental sustainability, traceability, and humane animal care.

“Dan was very easy to work with. He helped me through the process,” said Levine. “This helped me learn what I needed to know to adapt my approach to these businesses.”

Hoping to encourage the use of sustainable commodities, Takeaway Turnaround website There is a section highlighting restaurants that use eco-friendly products, such as Hotel Congress, Truland Burgers and Seis Kitchen. This page welcomes other companies to contact the group and add their names to the list.

“I would love to see 10 restaurants in Tucson transform,” Levine said. “But five would be good to get the ball rolling.”

In addition to local restaurants, Levine works with peers to help make a unique difference in their communities.

At University High School, she started a Sustainability Club that meets every Wednesday at lunch. The group has 10 members of hers who regularly participate, but more than 40 of hers who Levine says “come and go.”

“I have a lot of students do the unique task of calling restaurants to see if they’re interested,” says Levine. “Our teacher sponsors are friends of people who are critical to implementing a plastic ban in Orange County.”

Trish Wheeler, who teaches environmental science at UHS, was happy to supervise the club when Levine contacted her.

Levine wasn’t currently taking Wheeler’s class, which is mandatory for all UHS freshmen, but teens have noticed the impact of single-use plastics and other single-use products, Wheeler said. said Mr.

“Aiko is definitely a very positive young man,” Wheeler said. And now she has a whole group of students who are equally aware that if you use disposable tableware once, it will last for years…the earth forever.”

Recognizing how many of her peers were arriving at school in the morning to drink Dutch Brothers coffee in plastic cups with plastic straws, Levine decided to appeal to the masses. .

When Levine first approached Wheeler about the club, the idea was to motivate members to eat out and discuss sustainable products with business owners and managers. She hosted a presentation for members and created a spreadsheet for students to track who is in charge of each restaurant on the list.

Wheeler said the idea was solid, but the students struggled at first.

“They were hearing from many places that they already had a deal and had other roadblocks,” she said. “They were really sad and they were always going through a ‘no’ stage.”

Students quickly learned that not all places perceive cause or own ownership in the same way they do. This was difficult for a group of excellent performers who were not accustomed to such disappointments.

University of Arizona professor Kerry King stepped in to help students revise their plans and create something more manageable. I reassessed what I believed and continued to move forward.

“It was a good learning experience in resilience,” Wheeler said. “These are real-world skills that kids are working on, considering systemic problems and ways to deal with them.”

Since all UHS freshmen are required to take an environmental science course, Wheeler is able to educate all freshmen about the impact humans have on the environment.

By reaching them in their formative years, these messages take root in them and they start thinking about how they can make a difference in the world and what changes they want, Wheeler said. Stated.

“Once people realize they care about this, I think it will have a more domino effect,” Wheeler said. “And it really shows the value of what young people are doing.”

The leaders of the Tucson Unified School District seem to recognize the value. The agency is working with Levine and Takeout Turnaround on a project to reduce plastic waste across the district.

TUSD received a grant to help transition to more sustainable materials and plans to replace the Styrofoam trays used in school lunches with paper trays and more environmentally friendly containers.

With over 40,000 students in the district, the potential impact is huge. Takeout Turnaround helps test materials and implement changes in schools across the district.

The University High School Sustainability Club is also working with TUSD to create a new lunch ingredient composting system in ongoing discussions with local restaurants.

“We are asking restaurants if they would consider not providing plastic utensils unless asked,” Levine said.

Only about 1% of plastic ends up being recycled, she says.

Levine hopes that as restaurants make these changes, other restaurants will want to jump on the bandwagon. That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to more environmentally friendly restaurants, she said.

“I think people are certainly starting to make an effort, but I think the mindset of a lot of people is, ‘There’s nothing I can do,'” Levine said. , people will realize this is a group effort.”