LET'S SAVE THE WORLD
ROTHBURY is dedicated to throwing a HUGE party… with a purpose. ROTHBURY is a new American celebration where music and cause join together to stir ideas, to awaken possibilities, and to empower through knowledge. And yeah, to have the time of our lives.
ROTHBURY is guided by a bold environmental sustainability mission. Dedicated to running as close to a zero-waste event as possible, we have implemented the following initiatives, and continue to add to this list:
We're Committed To
All ROTHBURY offices have been “Greened.” Just a few examples of the many sustainable initiatives we have implemented include: full service recycling is active at all offices; all paper products are 100% recycled, including but not limited to printing paper, copy paper, envelopes, letterhead; office printing is either two sided, or on the back of reused paper; all our offices use only reusables and compostable kitchen-ware, no disposables; all office supplies have been replaced by their eco equivalents: rechargeable batteries, hand soap, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, energy efficient light bulbs, and more; energy audits and monthly tracking have begun; the ROTHBURY team travels only when necessary, and when we do travel, we offset the carbon we create from our hotel stays, flights and/or automobiles.
When purchasing or even renting an item, ROTHBURY asks ourselves three questions:
- Where is this coming from?
- How was it made?
- Where might it end up?
For example, printing (this includes our on-site programs, posters, tickets, survival guides, smaller signage, etc.):
- Our paper comes from an independent/green-only paper company
- It is 100% recycled content, no trees cut. It is printed with soy-based inks.
- We will not print anything unnecessary, so as to reduce waste. Everything we do print can be recycled again, and we will provide recycling containers on site so that it has a better chance of reentering the system.
ROTHBURY is taking advantage of our ability to vote with our dollar. In addition to paper, ROTHBURY purchases compostables instead of disposables, offers organic and sustainable merchandise (t-shirts, hats), uses biodiesel, provides organic, veggie & vegan food vendors throughout the grounds, and more. Heck, we are even swapping out the porta-potty toilet paper to 100% recycled. Got another idea? Let us know!
ROTHBURY is committed to eliminating trash. If trash can be replaced with a more sustainable option, such as a reusable, it will be. If an item is going to end up in a landfill, we are going to make best efforts to not use it in the first place. Additionally, our vendors, sponsors and other on-site associates have enthusiastically (and contractually) agreed to our same high standards, and will not hand out anything that might soon be thrown ‘away’. By the way….where is away?!
Instead of standard ‘trash items’ like plastic cups, plates and utensils, ROTHBURY uses compostable products made from renewable plant sources. Examples include plates made of sugarcane (called Bagasse), and cups, straws, and trash bags made of corn (called Bioplastic). ROTHBURY strongly encourages our attendees to bring their compostable items to one of the many manned compost stations on the grounds!
As much as 30-40% of the ‘trash’ generated at an average festival could have been composted (and most of the rest can be recycled). In an effort to divert as much waste as possible, ROTHBURY offers manned compost stations available on-site. These stations accept all compostable food and food service items, as well as any personal items you would like to bring to us that are biodegradable (like paper). Because ROTHBURY is an ‘overnight’ festival that allows attendees to bring in their own food & food service items into the campgrounds, the possibility for accidental tainting is strong (a few petroleum items can taint it all). For this reason, you will not see compost bins along side every recycling/trash bin on the grounds. However, manned compost stations will be available throughout the event grounds, and will be marked on the event maps, for your convenience.
For those items that are not compostable, like bottles and cans, ROTHBURY will provide easy to use full-service recycling. At ROTHBURY, you will never see a trashcan without a recycling can along side it (Trash? What trash?!). All recycling can be mixed except paper and cardboard. That means plastic bottles, glass bottles and aluminum cans may all go in the same bin. Easy! Anywhere you see a trash can at ROTHBURY, you will also see recycle cans. Each will be labeled clearly, so please be sure to pause, read them, and select accordingly. Please recycle whenever possible!
Not sure if an item is compost, recycling, or trash? When in doubt, just ask the Green Team! ROTHBURY’s tremendous volunteer Green Team will be on hand to assist with questions, sorting, and to generally assist in the elimination of tainting. They are well trained and ready to answer any questions you might have. Want to volunteer and get into the event for free? Great, we couldn’t do it without you! Check out details about ROTHBURY’s Work Exchange Program.
ROTHBURY supports Clean Energy. This includes bio-diesel and solar powered stages, light towers, sponsor power sources, golf carts, etc. Some elements of ROTHBURY have to be ‘on the grid’. For those elements that we power ourselves, we choose to power them with clean energy.
While we’d love to fly to Michigan on an ethanol plane, the opportunity does not yet exist. For those items we cannot run clean (like an electric powered stage, or an airline flight), ROTHBURY offsets our carbon output. We are currently exploring opportunities to offset our carbon in a way which specifically benefits the local Rothbury community.
ROTHBURY is working with public transportation systems to create easy to use travel opportunities, and incentives for those who reduce their impact by taking public transport. We have only just begun to outline transportation options to ROTHBURY. Stay tuned for more information on airport shuttles, chartered eco-busses, and more.
ROTHBURY is dedicated to educating through experience. ROTHBURY will feature a Think Tank, an Energy Fair, an on-site eco-art made of reclaimed products, and more. Keep your eye out in scheduling updates as details are confirmed, and once on-site for plenty of unannounced surprises.
Whenever possible, ROTHBURY buys local, hires local, and supports local. Additionally, ROTHBURY is donating all usable products to local charities, schools, community centers and the like after the event. Products that are often left-over post event include: wood, decorations, sponsor items, etc. On site, ROTHBURY hosts a donation area, where anything useful will be stationed. After the event, the town of Rothbury, Grant Township, and the surrounding community will be invited to reclaim anything they might need, for free. This includes compost! ROTHBURY is also partnering with local school districts for ROTHBURY’s Solar Schools Program powered by Black Rock Solar and RVL7 and ROTHBURY’s Music in Schools Program powered by Gibson.
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Special Rothbury Initiatives
ROTHBURY’s Green Ticket offers attendees an easy ‘one click’ opportunity to soften the environmental impact of their festival participation. By estimating all fan travel (percentage of planes, trains and automobiles), ROTHBURY offers attendees a low-cost opportunity to carbon offset their piece of the travel pie (a $3 tribute added to the price of each ticket). ROTHBURY itself will be offsetting all event production, including artist and crew travel, stage power, etc ourselves. All offsetting dollars will go to building new wind farms in the Midwest, and planting trees in Michigan.
For Wind – ROTHBURY has selected Bonneville Environmental Foundation, a Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit organization. BEF was established in 1998 to further the development and use of new renewable energy resources and restore watershed ecosystems. BEF funds projects that support new renewable energy projects from solar, wind and biomass, which restore damaged watersheds. Revenues generated from ROTHBURY will go to Horizon Wind’s Prairie Star, a new wind project located in Mower County, Minnesota. The project is sited on a working corn and soy farm and employs 61 Vestas wind turbines sized at 1.65 megawatt each. Prairie Star generates enough pollution-free electricity to serve about 35,000 households throughout the Midwest. Learn more at: greentagsusa.org/renewables/prairiestar.shtm
For Trees – ROTHBURY and BEF have joined forces to donate to Global ReLeaf of Michigan, who will be planting trees in the local area. To learn more about this terrific organizations tree planting efforts around the globe, please visit http://www.globalreleaf.org/
In addition to carbon offsetting, ROTHBURY has partnered with Black Rock Solar to create the ROTHBURY Solar Schools program. For those fans willing to contribute even more (a higher $7 option exists), all funds raised beyond the original $3 offsetting fee will help outfit a local school with solar power. ROTHBURY itself has committed to donating an absolute minimum of $50,000 worth of solar panels. But with your help, we can hopefully generate much more - bringing the school closer to complete energy independence. To sweeten the deal, ROTHBURY is offering automatic entry into the “Mother(Earth) of all Raffles”, where the first prize is two week eco-trip for 2 to Costa Rica! Find out more information on ROTHBURY’s Green Ticket.
In addition to offsetting, ROTHBURY has partnered with RE:VOLVE Apparel and Black Rock Solar to outfit a local school with free solar. This years recipient is Shelby High School. We’re committed to an absolute minimum of $50,000 worth of solar, but with your participation in ROTHBURY's Green Ticket, we can hopefully generate much more. Your Green Ticket contributions will determine just how big we can go….so let’s all give all that we can, and let’s go big! Black Rock Solar is a non-profit project with a simple goal: take on climate change, and speed the adoption curve of renewable energy, by building large arrays of low or no cost solar power for schools, hospitals, and community centers. They design and build low or no-cost solar power, proving that solar power can be accessible to everyone. RE:VOLVE is sponsoring The ROTHBURY RVL7™ Solar Schools program by committing $50,000 in materials and labor to the project. Talk about Global Cooling – how COOL is that?! And Bauer Power, a solar installer from Grand Rapids, will be Black Rock Solar's local contractor for this great project. If you work in the solar industry and would like to get involved too, click here.
Producing a near zero-waste concert is a challenging task, and ROTHBURY is the first to tackle a green program of this magnitude at an around-the-clock (camping) concert in the USA. But this of course presents us with the terrific opportunity to push the envelope, and go further than anyone has before. So, with a lot of planning, a deep commitment to our environment, and some passionate staff & partners (like YOU!), we are setting out to do it. Volunteering for the Green Team is a real commitment. But it is incredibly rewarding work, and is a lot of fun too. Check out the details on ROTHBURY’s Green Team.
Here at ROTHBURY, when it comes to smoking, we’re realists. Like it or not, with large groups of any kind there is often a trail of cigarette butts. Have you ever picked up thousands of cigarette butts? Ugh!
ROTHBURY is putting a call out to all smokers – DON’T BE A LITTER BUTT! Instead, pick up one of our FREE pocket sized personal ashtrays when you arrive at the festival. These ashtrays are made from recycled materials.
You will find more details on our campaign to avoid cigarette butt litter as we approach July. For now, here are four facts worth knowing:
- Cigarette butt litter is the world's greatest environmental litter problem. Globally, approximately 5.2 trillion cigarettes are manufactured every year. In developed countries (or in markets where indoor smoking bans have been introduced) almost 1 in 3 cigarette butts end up as litter. In most Western countries, cigarette butt litter accounts for around 50% of all litter.
- It takes 12 years for a butt to break down.
- Cigarette butts have been found in the stomachs of fish, whales, birds and other marine animals which leads to ingestion of hazardous chemicals and digestive blockages.
- Cigarette butts can leach chemicals such as cadmium, lead and arsenic into our marine environment within an hour of contact with water.