As owners and operators of the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay, we take our responsibilities seriously at TrybWorld - both in terms of our impact and the opportunity to drive positive societal and environmental change.
Our mission is to leave a lasting positive impact, act with care, and continue to deliver inclusive active experiences that empower brands and individuals to live out their values.
We are committed to delivering sustainable races around the world, reducing our waste and taking responsibility for our environmental impact in every city we run.
To achieve this, we have implemented our Sustainability Commitment, which focuses on four main strategic pillars:
1. Connecting the Community
Connecting meaningfully with our stakeholders on our sustainability journey.
2. Respecting the Planet
Driving collective climate action including zero waste.
3. Inclusive Opportunities
Championing diversity and inclusion within our business and across the sector.
4. Responsible Business
Integrating sustainability into the fabric of our organisation.
We continually review our practices across the global race series to ensure our events are as sustainable as possible. Here's how...
Saying no to plastic water bottles.
One of the biggest wastes at running events are plastic water bottles. But we run ours differently. We have successfully removed all single-use plastic bottles from all of our races and replaced these with alternatives such as premium branded reusable bottles, refill water stations, canned or boxed water cartons that are made from recyclable, biodegradable materials.
To put this into perspective, that's over 15,000 plastic bottles that are no longer being used at our races.
Ditching plastic packaging.
We're going beyond eliminating just plastic water bottles and are working with our suppliers to try and ensure that all finisher t-shirts, race medals and other event premiums are not individually wrapped in plastic.
We're working closely with our catering suppliers to avoid or significantly reduce the number of plastic items used in our food packaging and serveware. Where possible, plastic cutlery is being replaced with wooden or compostable alternatives, and food packaging is being changed to 100% recyclable or compostable materials.
Sustainable shirts.
In 2024 we've partnered with sustainable performance wear brand Reflo to produce our iconic finisher shirts.
Predominantly crafted from recycled polyester, Reflo’s fabrics use 50% less energy and produce 70% less carbon than virgin polyester, requiring no new oil. Reflo will also be planting a tree for every finisher shirt produced!
To find out more about Reflo's sustainability credentials, visit reflo.com.
Reducing waste through recycling.
Food
In cities where food is widely composted, we will provide dedicated food waste/compostable bins in our Race Villages with clear instructions for use, so our runners can help us to be more sustainable as well where possible.
Recycling & dry waste
We will provide a number of different recycling and waste bins at our races where available to try and ensure the waste is separated properly and can then be recycled and reused correctly at a local waste management facility.
In Mumbai, we worked with local sustainable waste management charity, Skrap, who helped us to ensure that over 96% of our event waste was reused, composted, donated or recycled.
Branding
Working closely with our suppliers, we ensure all possible branding is collected and reused for future events. Where this is not possible, these items are recycled by our supplier.
Participant finisher t-shirts
Our finisher t-shirts, supplied by Reflo, are ethically and sustainably produced, made of 100% recycled materials and for every t-shirt produced, a tree will be planted.
Runner medals
The participant medals and lanyards are made sustainably using recycled materials.
Offsetting our emissions.
In order to operate our races and maintain the high-quality event experience we are responsible for transport, logistics and power emissions. We are committed to reducing our emissions and increasing efficiencies.
Each year we offset our carbon footprint from our core team travel to the race events through the Gold Standard.
Going local.
Since the beginning, we've been committed to using local suppliers for all our needs whenever necessary.
We've asked that our local caterers are providing runners with as much high-quality, locally sourced food as possible.
Making a social impact.
We are also proud to support the cities that we run in through The Extra Mile, our charitable programme that gives runners the opportunity to give back to their local community.
The Extra Mile addresses unique social challenges in communities where we live and work, through three philanthropy pillars: Education, Public Health and Social Justice & Equality.
The Bloomberg Square Mile Relay donates a total of US$390,000 across our 13 race city locations, with US$30,000 going to each of The Extra Mile Partner charities.
This is our commitment to making the world a better place. One race at a time.
TrybWorld® is part of Benchmark (the 'parent company'), a Certified B-Corp, and as part of our commitment to champion this, we ensure its associated principles and outcomes are at the centre of everything we do to create positive change.