Expanding Green Options: Event Merch and Sustainability

A few years ago, when Tash Acres was training for a half-marathon, she looked at the cheap medals and t-shirts from past races, saw how they piled up, and thought there had to be a better way. Her family was trying to eliminate waste in their lives and focus on their role in the environment, but she couldn’t find an event that didn’t add to the pile of stuff. Many avid runners have had a similar thought, staring at their stack of race memorabilia sitting in a corner or box. Acres’ original project was to plant trees for every virtual race athletes ran, but “people still want something tangible,” she said. And that’s how the concept of a plant-able medal was born. At first, she just created the biodegradable medals for her own virtual challenges, but today Earth Runs de...