Live Nation Aims for Zero Waste at Owned Venues

(Photo: Live Nation owns a controlling stake of the annual Bonnaroo festival, which has onsite composting capabilities. Credit: Bonnaroo)

Global concert promoter Live Nation is pushing for improved sustainability at concerts and events. The entertainment company set a goal of achieving zero waste at 20 of its owned and operated amphitheaters by 2020, Waste 360 reported.

“We are the largest live entertainment company in the world and with that comes both a huge responsibility and a huge opportunity,” Live Nation’s manager of venue sustainability Lucy August-Perna told reporter Willona Sloan.

The company has already launched pilot programs to test several waste management and reduction strategies at six venues in order to get closer to their goal.

“All the waste generated at our shows would be recovered and diverted to efforts like recycling, composting, donation and more, instead of ending up in the landfill,” August-Perna said in a Live Nation career Q&A last year. “A lofty goal, yes, but one we undoubtedly can achieve with the right tools.”

All employees will have access to a new zero waste e-learning course, Sloan reported. The company also introduced a seasonal venue sustainability coordinator position at 14 venues with responsibilities such as working with concessions partners on food containers and training staff to sort waste.

“I’ve been working with our concession partner, Legends, to pilot composting and food donation programs at our venues,” August-Perna told Live Nation. “We combined forces with Rock and Wrap It Up, an organization that connects our venues with local food rescue agencies to take all leftover food coming out of concessions — hot dogs, chicken tenders, pretzels, you name it.”

In the spring, Live Nation announced that plastic straws would be replaced with a paper alternative at the company’s 45 owned and operated amphitheaters in the United States, Billboard reported. House of Blues, a Live Nation company, banned plastic straws over the summer, offering paper ones upon request only.

Live Nation owns a controlling stake of the annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The multi-day festival took place in June with its own permanent solar array and onsite compost facility. “The festival also works with a team of 100% volunteers who collect food from its vendors and on-site caterers to donate over 20,000 pounds of food to a local food bank,” according to Live Nation.