Dec 21, 2011 - Going Green at Austin City Limits 2011

When we all heard that the festival was being moved up from October to mid September for 2011, we were upset to say the least.  Things got worse as it became apparent that we were not only in the driest 12 month period since 1895, but that we were destroying the previous record of 69 days over 100 in a year with an astonishing 90 days.

I was standing in my living room putting my backpack on and assembling the final touches of the personal equipment needed to survive a day in a field with 75,000 other people when I heard a very unfamiliar sound: Rain.  It was beating on the roof of my house like an army.  The downpour was fierce, quick, and wonderful.  Before I new it, not only was the rain over, but the ground was dry, and we were headed out the door.  It was astonishing how quickly things dried up again after such an intense downpour.  During the walk through my neighborhood to the park, we saw several reminders of the current burn ban in effect in Austin.  Signs on every corner reminding Austinites and visitors for the festival of the current fire warning began to reduce my concerns of a fire occurring during ACL.

 

As we walked down Barton Springs road on Friday September 16^th, we immediately noticed people asking for donations to help the victims of the Bastrop and other central Texas fires.  The “Do Good Bus” teamed up with Foster the People, C3, and many other artists to help raise money for the Red Cross and the Texas Wildfire Relief Fund.  These groups help the grossly underfunded and mostly volunteer firefighters dealing with the central Texas blazes.

 

The rest of the weekend’s weather was perfect!  Somehow we lucked out in the middle of this terrible drought with just enough rain to keep us cool and luckily not so much rain that we had repeats of the Dilo-Dirt fiasco of 2009.  Furthermore, thanks to the underground irrigation system installed in 2008-2009, the grounds were able to hold the rainwater and avoid the traditional problem of water just running off parched lands. 

 

Just like in years past, it was very clear that C3 and ACL had the environmental impact of the festival in mind.  The ever popular Rock and Recycle program was once again a success.  I asked many of the people gathering recyclables what their motivation, was and the resounding answer was “somebody needs to clean this up, why not me?”.  Although the volunteer program did help greatly with picking up recyclables, this year seemed to have even less trash on the ground to be collected overall.

 

ACL has had free water bottle fill stations for a few years now, but starting last year, they were operated by volunteers rather than open stations for attendees to use.  This was once again a clear success.  In years past, there was basically a mud pit surrounding each water station from water wasted while filling bottles, but this year, like last year, was clean and dry.  Again less water was wasted, and people were able to save money that would have been spent buying pre-bottled water.

 

 

This year I again had a chance to ask Emily Stengel, a manager at C3 who oversees several of the ACL Festival’s and other C3 events’ greening initiatives, a few questions:

 

Do you have the 2011 Green Mountain Energy numbers, number of tags and resulting offsets?

 

ACL fans purchased 806  fan tags. Individually, each fan tag offsets 220 pounds of CO2. That’s like not driving a car 245 miles, recycling 550 aluminum cans, or as much as 13 trees can absorb in one year. Austin City Limits Fan Tag sales went toward the SouthTex Greenwood Farms project in Taylor, Texas.

 

It looks like the water stations worked out again.  Were these all volunteers? Do you have the water usage numbers?  What would this be in bottles?

 

Yes, volunteers on the “aqua team” poured water at the filling stations sponsored by CamelBak.  These volunteers poured the equivalent of 244,000 water bottles (122,000 Liters) for fans, staff members, and other volunteers at ACL. Festival staff members received a CamelBak water bottle to fill at these stations throughout the weekend.

 

In 2011, there were over 100 volunteers per day dedicated to filling water bottles out of 200 volunteers committed to the Festival’s environmental initiatives.

 

If a person wanted to volunteer at the water station, or elsewhere, where could they sign up?

 

We post the application to volunteer in the summer leading up to the Festival and applicants can choose which teams they would like to sign up for. The application can be found on the FAQ page of the Festival website http://www.aclfestival.com/plan/faqs/#5c.

 

What is the final count on the number of recycling bags that were filled through Rock & Recycle? How does this compare to the total amount of recycled products?

 

Once again, almost 3,000 fans participated in the Rock & Recycle program, helping Festival staff keep the Zilker Park cleaner than ever before throughout the Festival. This year, patrons returned a filled bag of recyclables for an organic, cotton/ bamboo t-shirt made by Five Bamboo.

 

Are these recyclables processed by the COA plant? If not, where are they taken?

 

Texas Disposal Services hauls our waste, recycling, and compost to their facility in southeast Travis County.

 

What was the total volume of waste?

 

·      Diverted Waste- 2, 278 cubic yards

·      Landfilled Waste- 1,382 cubic yards

 

Was the 2011 ACL Festival 100% carbon neutral as well? Was this once again done through Green Mountain Energy?

 

ACL is continuing its commitment to the environment by offsetting the estimated CO2 emissions created by the festival’s generators and electricity usage, staff travel, artists travel (new in 2011) and office based emissions. Over the past five years we have offset 833 metric tons of CO2 emissions, a harmful gas that is the leading cause of global warming. To put this in perspective, this is like not driving over 2 million miles; or recycling almost 4.5 million aluminum cans.

 

Over the past five years, C3’s commitment to track and offset Austin City Limits’ carbon footprint, along with offering event goers an easy way to offset their own emissions, has helped to offset approximately 3,730 metric tons of CO2.

 

h20 water was present once again, which is great, what products are used for plates/napkins/utensils et. in the Food area?

 

·      All vendors are required to serve eco friendly, plates, cups and utensils that can be recycled or composted.

·      Styrofoam of any kind is prohibited

·      Serving cups and plates must be either compostable or biodegradable (paper)

·      Limit the need for cutlery and use a compostable product when necessary (ASTM 6400 or BPI certified)

 

I noticed this year that the surrounding neighborhoods and roads had less trash than in years past.  Was this due to an active effort from C3? Someone else? Or perhaps just more dedication from festival attendees?

 

We encourage fans to be considerate to these neighborhoods through social media and the email newsletter with over 400,000 subscribers. Perhaps it was more dedication from the patrons who certainly deserve credit for their consideration. 

 

C3 organizes other events, have any of the ACL programs been "exported" to them?

 

Yes! We have very similar environmental programs at Lollapalooza in Chicago, including the Rock & Recycle program, water campaign, front and back of house composting, and carbon offsets through Green Mountain Energy.

 

Were there any additional efforts made to conserve water due to the current drought in Texas?

 

Having volunteers pour water at the efficient Event Water Solutions water filling stations prevents wasted water during the Festival in the front of house areas. All vendors are encouraged to think green in their operations, including water usage. The irrigation system in Zilker Park is marked during the build and strike of the event to avoid busting water lines or sprinkler heads.

 

Were there any additional efforts made to reduce the risk of fire?

 

Extra precaution was taken in the food court and other kitchen areas, fans were encouraged to responsibly discard cigarettes walking to and from the Festival, as well as on Festival grounds, and cigarettes were not sold at the General Store inside the Festival.

 

To support local fire fighters and recent fire victims, ACL Festival held a fundraiser to benefit the American Red Cross of Central Texas and the Texas Wildfire Relief Fund. ACL Festival matched donations raised on Friday of the Festival, resulting in over $35,000 raised for these two charities.

 

 

In the end, the festival was a clear success.  The attendees enjoyed themselves, we didn’t start another fire, and most importantly, when I walk through Zilker Park, there isn’t a single footprint left in the grass.  Hopefully these 10 years of the ACL Festival are just the first in a long series of successful, green, events.

 

Written By Andy Rector

 

Links and References

http://www.aclfestival.com/about-acl-festival/the-cause/

http://www.aclfestival.com/experience/rock-n-recycle/

http://www.aclfestival.com/acl-news/wildfirerelief/

http://www.greenmountain.com/fantag

http://www.lcra.org/water/drought/index.html

http://www.austinparks.org/

http://www.nature.org/

 

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