Disney Names 2026 Environmental Champion of the Year Award Winners Across Walt Disney World and Disneyland

The 2026 Disney Environmental Champion of the Year (DECOY) Awards honor cast members driving major sustainability wins across Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort — from a senior engineer saving thousands of gallons of water a day at Stormalong Bay to Housekeeping managers phasing single-use plastic out of resort hotel amenities. The Disneyland Resort Candy Production team took Environmental Team of the Year for years of waste-reduction work.

Disney is spotlighting the 2026 recipients of its Environmental Champion of the Year (DECOY) Awards, honoring cast members who have driven major environmental wins across Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort — from conserving thousands of gallons of water at Stormalong Bay to phasing single-use plastic out of resort hotel amenities.

Originally shared on Life at Disney, the recognition lands in the middle of Disney's broader Earth Month push, celebrating cast members whose day-to-day work delivers measurable progress on the company's sustainability goals — whether they're engineering water systems, sourcing seafood, or running retail floors.

Jared's Making Waves in Water Conservation

Jared, a senior mechanical engineer on the Facility Asset Management team, played a key role in the recent refurbishment of Stormalong Bay — the sprawling sand-bottom pool complex shared by Disney's Yacht & Beach Club Resorts at Walt Disney World.

Thanks to Jared's engineering expertise and advocacy for sustainable design, the refreshed pool area now conserves thousands of gallons of water every day. Collaborating with teams across Walt Disney World, he guided a complex project forward while pushing Disney's broader environmental goals downstream into the guest experience.

Cutting Down on Plastic, One Hotel Stay at a Time

This year, the Hotels & Resorts team delivered a major environmental win by completing a multi-year effort to reduce single-use plastic in Walt Disney World hotel guest amenities. Plastic packaging has been phased out of bath amenities and vanity amenity kits, preventing millions of pieces of plastic waste each year.

Housekeeping Line of Business managers Tommy, Summer, and Katie anchored the initiative. Working across Disney Experiences, they sourced alternative amenities, designed new labels that still met Disney show-quality standards, and streamlined the processes for filling the new packaging — a textbook example of operational creativity paired with a sustainability mandate.

Valerie Demonstrates Bayou-tiful Sustainability

Valerie, a retail cast member in New Orleans and Bayou Country at Disneyland Resort, is known for inspiring fellow cast to take personal ownership of the resort's Zero Waste to Landfill goal. As an area lead, Valerie has built an engaging learning environment — sharing ways cast members can participate in existing recycling programs and partnering with management to kickstart new Zero Waste initiatives across retail and food-and-beverage teams.

Jason Sources Change Through Sustainability

Jason Horn, a senior sourcing specialist, has spent forty years at Disneyland Resort pushing for a more sustainable supply chain. As a member of the Strategic Sourcing team, he pioneered sustainable seafood purchasing, championed recyclable packaging, and shifted the resort to locally raised beef — quietly reshaping what guests eat during a Disneyland visit.

Candy Production's Sweet Steps Toward Sustainability

The Disneyland Resort Candy Production team was named the 2026 Environmental Team of the Year for its multi-year commitment to weaving sustainability into daily operations. What started as simply counting waste bags grew into a rethink of production processes — cutting parchment paper, plastic wrap, and food-scrap waste across the operation.

The team also partners with Circle D Ranch, home of Disneyland Resort's horses, donating any apples unfit for candy production as treats for the horses who pull the Main Street, U.S.A. streetcars. It's a charming closed-loop that doubles as real waste reduction.

What This Means for Disney Fans

For guests, these awards translate into quieter but real changes on property — cleaner pool systems at Stormalong Bay, plastic-free bath amenities in resort hotels, more locally sourced food on the plate, and fewer truckloads of waste leaving Disneyland's backstage areas. It's also a reminder that Disney's Earth Month coverage isn't just marketing: the Disney Conservation Fund's 30th anniversary storytelling rolls through April, with the countdown to Earth Day tracked at TheWaltDisneyCompany.com/Disney-Planet-Possible.