Greening and Green Activism
If you’ve ever cleaned up after a party, you can imagine what we face at Bonnaroo. But thanks to your cooperation, and a crew of amazing staff and volunteers we’ve kept loads of waste out of landfills. Last year, we diverted 237 tons. Yeah, we take our recycling and composting very seriously.
Bonnaroo's Official Sustainability Statement
We don’t just want to be the best festival. We aspire to be the greenest festival—and set the standard in sustainability and greening practices for North American concert events. To do so, we will engage fans, artists, the public, officials and even other festivals. Because of what’s at stake, we will gladly spend the extra effort and cost this sometimes involves. We believe our commitment to being sustainably green doesn’t hurt the Bonnaroo experience, but rather defines it and improves it. Who says you can’t have fun while changing the world?
Bonnaroo Carbon Shredders
The Carbon Shredders have partnered with We Are Neutral this year, to feature simple changes you can make in your everyday life to reduce your carbon footprint. Attendees travel from all over with a commitment to share in the Bonnaroo experience. Stop by and tell us how you made it here and share with us the small sustainable changes you are making in your own life. This year you’ll learn many more ways to shred your carbon and reduce your environmental footprint, and the Carbon Shredders booth will teach you how. Through food choices, water reductions, energy savings, and the way you transport yourself, we’ll give you a few good ideas to bring back home. Put your pin in the Carbon Shred map, learn more about solar power, or stop by for a good conversation, The Carbon Shred team will be there! Check out We Are Neutral on Facebook for more info on how you can make your Bonnaroo greener!
Change of Atmosphere
Change of Atmosphere wants you! They are a catalyst for change through education and empowerment. Along with their presence at festivals and events, they organize biofuel educational tours, community presentations and other educational experiences that inspire positive planetary change.
Rock the Earth
Rock the Earth is a national not-for-profit public-interest environmental organization dedicated to protecting and defending America’s natural resources. Their MO involves partnerships with the music industry. Ergo, Bonnaroo.
Clean Vibes
Clean Vibes is a company dedicated to responsible waste management at outdoor festivals and events. Their mission is to encourage and promote recycling and proper waste disposal, decreasing the amount of trash entering landfills and incinerators by increasing the amount of recyclables collected and delivered to recycling centers.
We Are Neutral
We Are Neutral helps musicians, artists and festivals green their projects, tours. We Are Neutral is an initiative of the non-profit Earth Givers, which engages in local energy conservation, low-income weatherization and carbon sequestration projects.
Encore Redevelopment
Encore Redevelopment is a project development and management company based in Burlington, Vermont with a focus on developing underused properties and new sources of alternative energy. Their philosophy: create harmony between the natural and built environments. Encore is currently working with Bonnaroo to develop a renewable energy system.
Shades of Green
A few of the green steps Bonnaroo has taken over the last few years.
Education and outreach
• A year-round sustainability coordinator to Bonnaroo staff.
• Developed guidelines for each department to reduce the festival’s overall carbon footprint.
• Included a Greening Handbook with the employee manual.
• Established purchasing and operational policies to encourage Bonnaroo staff to make the most sustainable choices.
Product Consumption
• Brought biodegradable wraps, plates, cups and cutlery manufactured from corn to concessions. These are composted along with food waste, diverting over 30 tons of landfill waste.
• Recycle over 30 tons of PET bottles each year.
• Expanded free water stations throughout the concert site where fans can refill reusable water bottles.
• Use recycled and locally sourced products wherever possible.
• Provide vendors with a list of local farmers to source produce and meat from.
• Partner with a local food bank to donate recovered food from staff and artist catering.
Energy Consumption
• In 2012, offset 800 metric tons of CO2.
• Since tying into the Tennessee Valley Authority electrical grid 2009 we have reduced our generator use by 70% and installed a 50 KW solar array.
• Replace 12 security vehicles with security horses.
• Add alternative fuel vehicles to festival rental fleet.
The Greening Village and Planet Roo
Planet Roo is an eco and social-activism village dedicated to promoting a socially responsible lifestyle. The performance stage here is actually powered by solar panels!
Within Planet Roo you’ll find a waste-free café, a documentary cinema tent, a silent auction benefiting worthy causes, and lots of information about how we are making a difference—and how you can, too.
Waste Is A Terrible Thing To Waste
We take diverting our waste away from the landfill very seriously.
Thanks to the amazing efforts of the Clean Vibes team we diverted 233.77 tons by weight from the landfill in 2012.
2012 Bonnaroo Waste Diversion Rates by Weight
32% of all waste diverted from landfill by WEIGHT
Recycling/Reuse:
• 98.87 tons hauled commingled to QRS Recycling, WastAway or Richardson Construction Recycling
• 15.76 tons of scrap metal hauled to CFC Recycling in Tullahoma
• 41.84 tons of cardboard, office paper, and electronics hauled to Coffee County Recycling
• 1.6 tons of PVC hauled to Coffee County Recycling
• 5.7 tons of used cooking oil diverted and collected by Tennessee Bio Energy to be processed into biodiesel
• Approximately 70 tons of compost
