The Earth Prize 2025: Three teenagers from NYC named in $100K global competition for their origami-inspired eco packaging

• The Earth Prize is the world’s largest environmental competition and ‘ideas incubator’ for 13-19-year-olds, empowering young people with mentorship and $100K funding
• Seven Regional Winners have recently been announced, representing the regions of North America, Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Oceania and Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East
• The Winners representing North America created 'Kiriboard', a plastic-free, origami-inspired alternative to styrofoam packaging, made from recycled cardboard
• The 15-17 year olds are the first winners of The Earth Prize to come from UAE
• Each team receives $12.5K to develop and implement their idea
• The public vote is now open crown the Global Winner on Earth Day (April 22)

In an effort to tackle plastic pollution, a team of 17- and 18-year-olds from New York City’s Stuyvesant High School has been named as the North America Winners of The Earth Prize 2025, thanks to their innovative plastic-free packaging solution called 'Kiriboard'.

Zhi Han (Anthony) Yao, Flint Mueller and James Clare were inspired by kirigami (the Japanese art of geometric paper cutting) as they created ‘Kiriboard’, a game-changing eco-friendly packaging solution. At first glance, Kiriboard looks like a flat sheet of cardboard, but when folded, it forms a diamond-shaped column with eight tabs, providing structural strength against multidirectional stresses. This design transforms a flat sheet of recycled cardboard into a shock-absorbing structure, replacing styrofoam and plastic-based cushioning.

The idea for Kiriboard emerged when the team, part of the entrepreneurial and economics group StuyBigCompGroup, won Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow STEM competition and began exploring new challenges. They decided to focus on sustainability after receiving a shipment of robotics motors that arrived damaged, prompting them to question the effectiveness of existing packaging materials. This led them to research the environmental impact of plastic packaging, uncovering the harmful release of neurotoxins like styrene from Styrofoam and PFAs (so-called "forever chemicals") from plastics.

Kiriboard addresses the global crisis of plastic waste, as half of all plastic currently ends up in landfills, contributing to 3.5% of worldwide carbon emissions. Made entirely from recycled cardboard, it uses less material per board than traditional packaging and is scalable for mass production through laser-cutting or CNC scoring. Its design is cost-effective, biodegradable, and structurally superior.

The team impressed The Earth Prize’s expert jury with their final pitch, having excelled in the programme’s incubation and mentorship phases, and will now receive $12.5K to scale up their app further. Zhi Han (Anthony) Yao commented:

The Earth Prize aims to empower the next generation with all the tools they need to develop their eco solutions for real life impact, including one-to-one mentoring, learning resources and funding of $100K for the winning teams to scale their solutions. Since 2021, The Earth Prize has reached over 15,000 young people across 160 countries and territories, and awarded $500K to the top teams.

Previous applicants have garnered global media attention in outlets such as Forbes, Business Insider, EuroNews, Positive.News and UN Today, and continue to scale their solutions after the competition has ended. For instance, team Delavo (Winners of The Earth Prize 2023), who invented a cutting-edge filter that recycles up to 90% of toxic laundry waste water, partnered with a national manufacturer and applied for a patent to make their solution a reality. 

The Earth Prize was started by The Earth Foundation, a Swiss non-profit organization based in Geneva, as a way to empower and educate young people to tackle environmental challenges. As young people live through and observe extreme weather events such as the LA wildfires, many are mobilized to act - choosing to create solutions for our planet.

A recent study showed that 59% of youth and young adults are very or extremely worried about climate change, and more than 45% said their feelings about climate change negatively affected their daily life and functioning. 

The Public Vote to decide the Global Winner is now open until Tuesday April 22 (Earth Day): https://www.theearthprize.org/vote