The end of Noise Pop is upon us (I'm going to see She & Him tonight!), and in the festival's wake lies some progress in moving the festival towards being a totally green event.

Maybe tonight's show will be different, but the other Noise Pop events I went to didn't strike
me as being particularly green. I saw tons of plastic cups all over the floor at the Independent at the end of the night, and no labeled containers for recycling, and no evidence of ride-sharing programs.

To be fair, on the positive side, they did give VIPs reusable canvas tote bags that are the perfect size for carrying records, and did some extensive greening behind the scenes as noted on their website. They've also stated outright that they're still learning and this year's attempts were just a starting point. Here's some information on their website about the behind-the-scenes greening that took place this year:

Noise Pop Gives A Hoot

Noise Pop learned a lot about creating environmentally-friendly, sustainable and carbon-neutral events last fall at the Treasure Island Music Festival, and this year we’re starting to bring those smart ideas to the Noise Pop Festival.

Here’s a few of the things we’re doing as a business:

- Well over 50% of our printed materials utilize recycled paper with soy-based inks.

- Promoting mass transit options to the festival with our friends at Alternetrides.

- Calculating and offsetting our carbon footprint with Carbonfund.org’s reforestation project.

Most festivals and concert series begin with some greening initiatives to test the water, and expand their commitment year after year. When you're hard pressed for staff and money, executing greening initiatives at multiple venues can be challenging. Has anyone ever seen this done successfully? If so, please share.

Labels: festivals, green resources, sarah