Milwaukee ‘Rocked the Green’
Near-zero waste music festival debuted in Veteran’s Park
by Emily Genco
September 2011
photo by Emily Genco
This September music fans descended upon Veteran’s Park in Milwaukee to celebrate a day of entertainment and environmental sustainability at the city’s first near-zero waste music festival Rock the Green. The lineup included Evan Christian, Parachute, Fitz and the Tantrums, Michelle Branch, Ben Folds and The Fray but equally impressive was the emphasis on clean energy and living.
“I really wanted to have a top-notch line-up to get people to the event and then on site have an education and engagement component on how to live a bit more eco-friendly lifestyle,” Creator Lindsay Stevens Gardner said.
Gardner began planning the festival in 2008 after noticing the considerable waste produced at other large-scale events throughout the country.
“I wanted to create something unique and different and that just showcases Milwaukee and Wisconsin as a whole taking strides to become more sustainable, with that came the near-zero waste platform of Rock the Green,” Gardner said.
Gardner challenged herself to create an event where the only waste generated was carried into the festival grounds.
“How do you make an event near zero-waste? Well, you basically take the event and dissect it piece by piece,” Gardner said. “We’ve really looked at the anatomy of the event and tried to make everything as green as can be.”
Rock the Green incorporated sustainable production techniques ranging from biodiesel generators to solar panels. The event ran from 11 a.m. through 6 p.m. to avoid the added lighting concerts hosted at night necessitate. Biodiesel generators provided by Aggreko powered the event with fuel donated by the Milwaukee-based company Fusion Renewables.
Rock the Green promoters also encouraged attendees to use sustainable transportation to and from the event. Carpools of four or more received discounted parking. The masters bike group Team Velocause also organized “Ride, Rock and Roll,” a caravan that departed from the Urban Ecology Center and rode to Veteran’s Park. According to member McGee Young, Team Velocause riders formed the group to leverage visibility for causes they believe in like Rock the Green. Twelve team members also rode in shifts during the festival to power the ‘Air’ interactive area, one of the four elements used to organize the event’s layout.
Food and beverages at Rock the Green supported the festival’s near-zero waste efforts. Vendors created menus for the event that were local and organic or sustainable and used compostable serving materials, Gardner said. Rock the Green organizers were also proud to debut a festival first. All food waste at the event was composted using InSinkErator disposal units, ground into slurry and used to create Milorganite, a fertilizer for Milwaukee’s parks. The company InSinkErator remained onsite throughout the festival and educated attendees on the environmental benefits of food disposals.
“The Parks Department actually uses Milorganite to fertilize all their parks,” Gardner said. “It’s farm to fork to some degree back to farm, a full circle story. It’s pretty neat.”
In keeping with the near-zero waste mission, Rock the Green did not sell plastic water bottles. Instead, all attendees were given a BPA-free, reusable water bottle at the gate. Attendees could fill up the water bottles throughout the day with the free fresh water on site using the Milwaukee municipal water system.
Rock the Green also premiered the standardized label system that Recycle Across America will launch this year.
“If you go into businesses or school, everyone seems to have a different type of recycling unit or bin,” Gardner said. “All haulers across the country have agreed to transition to one standardized recycling and labeling system, so people will know it will be standard just like a stop sign. If we had different types of stop signs all over people might get confused.”
The system was showcased on the Veolia waste reclamation stations throughout the festival grounds.
Rock the Green was 100 percent volunteer-run. Net proceeds from the festival benefited the Urban Ecology Center and Park People, two groups that provide environmental education and support Milwaukee County parks, respectively.
“It’s amazing to see the talented people that we’ve got coming together to pull this off. Everyone’s got so much experience. To see everyone collaborate and come together it’s really exciting,” Gardner said.
Festival organizers hoped Rock the Green would inspire, engage and encourage attendees to live more sustainably after they left, according to Gardner.
The Rock the Green website will be maintained throughout the year with educational content and advice to help visitors lead eco-friendly lifestyles. Organizers also plan to release a best practices guide to help other promoters ‘green’ their events.
On stage, Michelle Branch said it best, “I’m really, really proud of this event and what it means.”
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