Each year SnowGlobe and their partners Waste-Free Earth, Chris’s Cleaning, Full Circle Compost and South Tahoe Refuse work together on reducing and reusing the waste created at the festival, and with the Sugarpine Foundation to plant trees for future forests. Coordinators evaluate the waste that is coming through the event’s waste stream each year and see where they can either eliminate the waste, reduce the amount of waste, or find a better alternative (in that exact order according to Marina McCoy of Waste-Free Earth).
They get to check mark off all the columns by doing the following: McCoy says they don’t allow the festival’s food vendors to sell anything wrapped in plastic. “Although treats are tasty, that plastic wrap will be around for hundreds of years, so we don’t allow the sale of anything wrapped in plastic at our food vendors,” she said. No foil is allowed either.
They have proper waste diversion procedures in place to make sure that landfill is the absolute last option. After each event, there is usually leftover food from the food vendors, so they set up donation opportunities where leftover food is taken to the South Lake Tahoe Warm Room. In 2017 over 1,500 pounds of food, clothing and furnishings were given to eight local organizations including, Live Violence Free, the Warm Room, South Lake Tahoe Family Resource Center, Boys and Girls Club, Christmas Cheer, Tahoe Youth & Family Services, Bread and Broth, and St. Theresa’s Church.
SnowGlobe also requires all food vendors and bars to only serve on 100 percent compostable flatware instead of single-use plastic options. Each vendor signs a contract with them to ensure they stay true to their sustainability guidelines. If Waste-Free Earth finds a vendor is not complying with their programs, they have the authority to cease their sales until they are 100 percent compliant.
“We know that might sound harsh, but this truly helps us make sure everyone has 100 percent compostable products,” said McCoy. “There is a lot of ‘greenwashing’ out there, where companies market to consumers saying they are ‘compostable’ when only 70 percent of the material is. So we take the time to speak to every food vendor personally and assist them with ordering.”
South Tahoe Refuse supplies the festival with 300 32-gallon waste receptacles each year as well as all of the event’s compost, recycle, and landfill dumpsters. Inside the venue, there are 6′ X 3′ signs that educate attendees on what is compostable, recyclable and landfill items, so they know how to dispose of their waste correctly. Green Team volunteers walk around the event as well to help educate attendees and answer any questions. SnowGlobe’s paid staff then checks the bins one last time to make sure they are adequately separated before throwing them into the appropriate dumpsters outside of the venue.
Trash and recycling aren’t always a fun thing to do, so McCoy and her team is creative and has games and incentives to encourage concert goers to understand and participate in the SnowGlobe sustainable goals.
“We have loads of games and interactions to get attendees involved and inspired,” said McCoy. “Our Waste-Free Earth booth is located inside the venue, right by the entrance. Some of our incentives include micro-trash sweeping contests, recycling contests, waste diversion games, and plastic pledges. Attendees can play any one of these games, or even all of them to be entered into our daily raffle to win SnowGlobe merch! We also have a sustainable raffle, where attendees can purchase a raffle ticket for $5 and be entered in to win a whole gift basket. All of the proceeds will be split amongst eight different local organizations. Our team has generated a list of most needed items for each local organization, and we will be doing some shopping for them to fulfill their needs.”