CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia — June 20, 2019 — WorldStrides was named the “Top Innovator” at the Charlottesville Climate Collaborative’s Better Business Challenge awards ceremony in Charlottesville, Virginia Thursday. This award recognized our efforts to reduce waste and educate students and teachers about waste and recycling through our box lunch program.

Students consume tens of thousands of box meals on the East Coast during their Washington, D.C. programs, and this unique initiative has the potential to reduce 2.7 TONS of waste each year in box meals alone. WorldStrides did this in partnership with several meal vendors by adjusting the components and packaging of the box lunch, and including a flyer (recyclable, of course!) which educates the eater about how they can recycle the lunch and other materials during their busy traveling day.

“The impact of this relatively simple change is huge, and we hope to roll this out in more cities. Because of the educational component of this effort, we believe we’ll see an increased focus on reducing waste in other ways throughout the tour,” explained Chas Lum, Director of Meals, who spearheaded the initiative. “We are so proud to be recognized for this important work.”

The box lunch recycling program is part of a broader commitment to sustainability and corporate social responsibility at WorldStrides. At our headquarters in Virginia, WorldStrides participated in the Charlottesville Climate Collaborative’s Better Business Challenge, a friendly competition among Charlottesville businesses to save energy, innovate, and reduce our environmental impact. WorldStrides was also a finalist for the “Kilowatt Crackdown Award” and for the ”Better Business Champion” award.

“We are proud of our teams work in Charlottesville and around the world, and we will continue to support impact initiatives in our offices and on tour,” said Ian Zurzolo, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager at WorldStrides. “Our employees around the world are enthusiastic about our ability to impact our communities and to share this commitment with the students who are influenced by our programs.”

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