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Our Mission is To Be of Service to People and Planet

Founded in response to the Iraq War, we started from a belief that awareness changes how we think and act: that people who understand the world — its wars, its inequalities, its environmental crises, its human rights failures — make better choices in how they live and how they show up. That belief still drives us. We’re a certified B Corp that donates a significant share of profits to frontline environmental and social justice organizations. We invest in the communities most affected by the systems we’re trying to change. What we do in the world is what drives us.

A rapt audience at a documentary screening

$23M donated to nonprofits since 2009.

25% of profits support people and the planet.

Against the backdrop of humanity’s accelerating crisis, these numbers may seem insignificant. A drop in an ocean that’s rising, acidifying, dying. Yet it is good to acknowledge the work: $23 million to grassroots organizations fighting on the front lines. Not as salvation. As solidarity with those doing the hardest work in the most difficult places.

Our Previous Reports

Funded Projects Throughout the Years

View all of our partners by the year they were funded:

2024202320222021

OUR values

Integrity
Doing the right thing, not the fast and easy thing. Transparency about our limitations, refusing to greenwash, holding to what we promise and say, walking the talk.  

Community
Global, local and everything in between.   Our compassion, empathy and how we show up for each other.  Standing with those who are in need and left behind, advocating for those who do not have a voice, sharing the abundance we have.  

Excellence
Never settling. Never getting complacent. Always striving to do better. It’s the discipline of continuous improvement.

How
World Centric
Began

Aseem Das founded World Centric in 2004 to raise awareness of social and environmental challenges facing our world. We began by hosting documentary screenings, speakers, and courses on sustainability, social inequality, human rights, economics, and wealth disparities. To fund this mission without asking for donations, we began selling Fair Trade and compostable products in 2005.

By 2009, growing demand for compostable products led us to transition from nonprofit to for-profit social enterprise. Through this structure, we created positive change while ensuring financial self-reliance. Since then, we’ve donated at least 25% of profits to grassroots organizations and offered discounts to schools and nonprofits. We became a Certified B Corp in 2010 and a California Benefit Corporation in 2013.

We are now a leading supplier of compostable products in the USA, with over 400 different items supplying to schools, universities, corporations, and restaurants. We are continuously working to improve our processes, our materials, our costs.

Timeline of our Journey

2004

Founded to raise awareness of global social and environmental issues through education and advocacy.

2005

Began selling Fair Trade and compostable products, including unbleached fiber options. Registered as a taxable nonprofit with plans for 501(c)(3) status.

2006

Expanded product line with heat-resistant compostable cutlery. Shifted focus to product sales to sustain the mission.

2009

Became a mission-driven for-profit social enterprise focused on compostable packaging. Began donating 25% of profits to grassroots causes.

2010

Achieved Certified B Corp status.

2013

Converted to a California Benefit Corporation to legally align business structure with purpose.

2021

First to introduce plant-based, oil-resistant coating with no added PFAS.

Today

Operates the first dedicated R&D facility as a pure-play compostables manufacturer.