June 21, 2010 - Green Lessons from Bonnaroo 2010

Bonnaroo, the biggest and best music festival in America has again come and gone, but while the memories, mud, and music are behind us - the lessons learned from the organizers' celebrated efforts to be the most sustainable festival on earth are not forgotten.

The whole-hearted, double fisted attack on waste is apparent the moment you drive through the gates at the 700-acre property in Manchester, Tennessee. Campers at the festival, making up the vast majority of Bonnaroo's 80,000 attendees, are handed two trash bags as soon as they get to the campgrounds. Recyclables go in the blue bag otherwise waste gets dropped and sorted at any one of more than 50 recycling and compost stations located throughout the grounds.

The substantial amount of landfill trash goes in the black bag and takes the festival's cleanup crew a full ten days to clear the grounds - we would imagine the trash leftover from spectators at Jay-Z's set would take a few days in itself to clean-up. Seriously, how hard is it for people to pick up/limit their own trash?

Clearly the task is incredibly hard considering the fact that trash reduction is priority number one for Bonnaroo's green team, which is led by Superfly Productions festival sustainability coordinator Laura Sohn. In 2009, Bonnaroo diverted 33 percent of all waste by weight from the landfill and into recycling and compost.

Bonnaroo's 2009 waste numbers are the best the festival has done in its nine-year history so we're eagerly anticipating the numbers from the 2010 festival. Also, thirty tons of organic waste was composted in 2009, three times as much as was composted in 2008. Evidently the improved numbers are due mainly to the new "Trash Talker" initiative. Blue-gloved trash traffic controllers, now stand at waste stations and guide garbage into recycling, compost, or landfill bins. In exchange for three six-hour shifts, Trash Talkers receive a free pass to the four-day festival. Our blue-gloved buddy Shawn shared his shady umbrella with us while helping us guide our empty aluminum cans and paper napkins into the proper receptacle.

As green as it is, and despite widespread rumors that the festival is approaching a zero carbon footprint, Bonnaroo is far from being as sustainable as can be. Parting on such a large scale like Bonnaroo, zero impact is impossible. Bonnaroo organizers understand this perhaps better than any other mega-party planners and they know which eco battles to pick, and every year they're picking more.

Vendors are encouraged to source locally and use eco-friendly products, and this year, Centeroo (the main area of the festival grounds) featured a pair of dinners where strictly local fare was served. There is also a permanent tire and mud shelter that houses Bonnaroo's own post-office and information on the surrounding eco-vendors and solar stage. We spoke to one woman outside this shelter who was providing information on creating and growing your own mushroom log - she mentioned the opportunity exists to plant a garden on-site that could provide enough produce for entire meals at the festival.

As if we needed another reason to look forward to Bonnaroo 2011!