Landon HobermanPhoto credit: https://barronprize.org/
Landon Hoberman is just 17, from New Jersey, but he’s demonstrating how one small change in the way we eat at restaurants can make a big difference for the environment. He has been lauded for his campaign to get restaurants to stop automatically including plastic cutlery with takeaway and delivery orders, which has stopped 8.1 million pieces of single-use cutlery from going to landfill. The effort has also saved participating restaurants more than $200,000, proving that cutting waste can be good for the planet and local businesses. Hoberman’s work has earned national recognition as a 2026 Barron Prize winner, an award that honours young people who have made meaningful contributions to their communities and the environment, as per the award’s website. The 2026 winners include students working on environmental protection, accessibility, health care, food recovery, and social justice.
Hoberman’s campaign therefore addresses pollution at its source rather than simply cleaning it up after the fact. His idea did not require a complicated invention or an expensive new technology. Instead, it focused on changing a default habit: asking customers whether they actually need plastic forks, knives, and spoons before restaurants include them with an order. Read more about his idea here, as per Barron Prize website: Every day, restaurants across the country place plastic cutlery into takeout bags and delivery orders, often without asking whether customers want or need it. Many people eating at home already have reusable utensils, while others may not use the plastic items at all. Once discarded, those utensils add to the enormous amount of single-use plastic that ends up in landfills, waterways, and natural environments. Hoberman is among the young people honored by the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, which celebrates young leaders across the United States and Canada. The Barron Prize highlights projects that begin with a personal concern and grow into practical action that benefits others. Reducing unnecessary utensils also lowers the hidden environmental costs of production. Making plastic cutlery requires fossil fuels, manufacturing energy, transportation, and packaging. When millions of utensils are avoided, those upstream impacts are reduced as well. The financial savings add another persuasive argument for restaurants. Cutlery, napkins, condiment packets, and other extras may appear inexpensive individually, but across thousands of orders they become a meaningful expense. By giving customers the choice, restaurants can reduce purchasing costs, cut packaging waste, and still provide utensils to people who need them.