Festival Lines up Sustainability, Park Beautification, and Green Jobs
San Francisco, CA – Mayor Ed Lee and City officials celebrate Outside Lands’ efforts to support sustainability, park beautification, and support green jobs.
Since its inception, Outside Lands has become part of the fabric of San Francisco. For one weekend each August, the festival transforms Golden Gate Park into a miniature city of its own, serving as a mecca for lovers of music, art and food. With a strong focus on the environment, the festival aims to operate as sustainably as San Francisco itself.
“The Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival will show that San Francisco can host world class events while protecting our environment,” said Mayor Ed Lee. “Working closely with Another Planet Entertainment, we are making sure that the Outside Lands event is a sustainable one that supports green jobs, respects our neighborhoods, and is an event that reflects our City values.”
Each year, the festival operates with a host of sustainable features:
· comprehensive zero waste setup
· an eco village with non-profit partners
· a bike valet
· recycling store
· biodiesel generators
· locally sourced food
· refillable water program
· Textile recycling (newly added in 2014)
This year, Outside Lands has partnered with the San Francisco Department of the Environment’s Textile Reuse and Recycling Initiative to make sure that leftover textiles get put to good use. After the festival, leftover shirts, sweaters, and other items will be collected and contributed to the local textile market so they can be reused and recycled, preventing waste and promoting local jobs. This important zero waste effort is being managed in partnership with Clean Vibes, Recology and Goodwill.
“As an event producer, we hold ourselves to the highest environmental standards, and Outside Lands is no exception,” said Gregg Perloff, President and CEO of Another Planet Entertainment, the event’s long-time producer. “Innovation is important festivalwide and the recent addition of a textile recycling program is just one more way we are taking sustainability to the next level at Outside Lands.”
In fact, Outside Lands aims to leave Golden Gate Park—and the city itself—in a better condition than it found it. In addition to hosting its annual Outside Lands Ocean Beach cleanup, Another Planet Entertainment has coordinated with San Francisco Recreation and Park Department to conduct litter pick-up and park preservation efforts.
“We could not have a better partner than Another Planet,” said Phil Ginsburg, General Manger of the Recreation and Park Department, “They fully believe in and embrace the local and sustainable ethos, as is clear by this latest effort.”
Perhaps the sustainable feature that attendees will interact with most is San Francisco’s iconic zero waste bins. Like the City of San Francisco itself, Outside Lands has long celebrated a high landfill diversion rate (last year the event celebrated an 84% diversion rate). Event organizers have once again hired Clean Vibes, an event waste diversion company, to help the festival recycle and compost as much as possible.
Clean Vibes has hired graduates from the San Francisco Department of Environment’s green careers program, Environment Now, to supplement their recycling and composting efforts. “In San Francisco, zero waste and green jobs go hand-in-hand,” said Josh Arce, President of the San Francisco Environment Commission. “By hiring Environment Now staff to help maximize recycling and composting, the festival is getting closer to zero waste while supporting green jobs.”
“The Environment Now program helped me gain experience and skills to take on a leadership role promoting zero waste in my community,” said Jennifer McPike, Environment Now alumnae and current Zero Waste Contractor with Clean Vibes. “And it is exciting to be a part of an event committed to be a leader in sustainability.”
Learn more about…
· Sustainability efforts at Outside Lands
· San Francisco’s Textile Recycling Initiative
· The Environment Now green careers program
About Outside Lands
San Francisco's Outside Lands began in 2008 and takes place annually in historic Golden Gate Park. With an incomparable vision for marrying food, wine and music in a fashion unlike any other festival in the country, Outside Lands has become one of the most popular summer events for both the culinary and music enthusiast alike. It is a welcomed and beloved world-class tradition in its hometown, as it is now known as the event that celebrates in grand style all the things that make the Bay Area one of the most desirable places to live and visit. In its first six years, Outside Lands has raised over $8.3 million dollars for the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, and, while honoring Northern California’s spectacularly diverse culture, it has set a new standard for live events worldwide
About Clean Vibes
Clean Vibes is a company formed and dedicated to responsible on-site waste management of festivals and events. Working at hundreds of events over the past fifteen years, the company mission is to actively encourage and promote recycling, composting and proper waste disposal. In 2013, Clean Vibes diverted over 1.5 million pounds of waste from landfills across the United States. Building on previous successes at Bay Area events, Clean Vibes recently opened a west coast branch of operations located in Vallejo, CA.
About Recology
Recology, an employee-owned company, sees a world without waste, where resources are used and re-used in a sustainable ecosystem that strives for their best and highest use. Recology provides over 20 recycling programs to San Francisco residents, businesses, and institutions. Together with the City of San Francisco, Recology has developed innovative programs that have made San Francisco one of the top recycling cities in the country.
About the San Francisco Department of the Environment
The San Francisco Department of the Environment creates visionary policies and innovative programs to improve, enhance, and preserve San Francisco’s urban and natural environment, leading the way toward a sustainable future. By developing wide-ranging environmental programs, fostering groundbreaking legislation, working collaboratively with key partners, and educating the public on comprehensive sustainability practices, the department makes it easy for everyone in San Francisco to protect their environment.
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