Think of Woodstock (1969 music festival) and it conjures up words like ‘’changed Rock and Roll’’ ‘’500,000 people’’, ‘’legendary performances’’ but also ‘’Sanitation issues’’.

 

The film footage makes you wonder if you would have braved the horrible conditions the audience had to put up with to see Hendrix play at 8:30 am on that last day (ok, of course you would have, what the heck kind of question is that ?).

 

 

Sensitivity to sustainability

Silly example, but events have come a long way since then, advancing in technical sophistication and ecological awareness. Audiences now, particularly young audiences that show up for the events we often stage, are very sensitive to any efforts an organizer can put towards sustainability. There are many ways you can reach out and prove to them that it’s something you care about as well.

 

Event greening

A good reference for sustainability is the new ISO 20121 sustainable events certification. It maps out how to build eco-responsibility into your event, in categories like event organisers, owners and workforce, to event supply chain and more. For example, onsite waste disposal planning : Are there separate bins for recyclables ? Are they easily accessible ? Are the food-and-beverage vendors you are contracting going to serve using recyclable materials ? Are they local ? How will post-event waste disposal be handled ? These are just a sample of things that can help optimize your event.

 

Once your sustainability goals are well defined, make them clear to all involved and it will help build their commitment to it.

 

Likewise, during the event, through signage or announcements, you can encourage audience participation to keep the event footprint as light as possible. Perhaps you can mention your vendors’ positive actions live or on your website in your partners/sponsors section. Performing artists are also typically eco-conscious and might also help in the promotion of sustainability at the event. You can trust that many, if not all event-goers will pick up on your efforts and it can only cast your event and its participants in a more positive light.

 

Stageline commitment

At Stageline, we’ve long taken sustainability very seriously. Starting with the conception of the staging equipment, which is up to 73% recyclable in origin and 80% of which is recyclable. Also, our staging equipment has an extremely long lifecycle (up to 25+ years). Virtually all of our stages, extremely advanced in design, fit on one tractor-trailer, which not only reduces our carbon footprint (competitors’ stages typically require multiple trucks) but also reduces the necessity of extra vehicles such as cranes or lifts, further reducing greenhouse emissions.

 

A lot of care goes into site conservation: there is no grading necessary, no excessive site disturbance by mechanical equipment such as needed for ballasting or anchoring and, very importantly, our technicians and other personnel subscribe to our core values concerning the environment and are dedicated to make each event as sustainable as possible.

 

If you’d like more information on using Stageline expertise in sustainability to create your event, please ​contact us.​ We’ll be glad to help.