Live Nation reports 90% waste reduction at select Dave Matthews Band summer tour stops

One of the pioneering acts of sustainable touring, the Dave Matthews Band, is reporting several successes in this area following its latest tour.

The band's summer tour, which wrapped up in early September at The Gorge Amphitheater in Quincy, Washington, kicked off the band's 'On the Road To Zero Waste' initiative in partnership with Live Nation. According to a press release, 18 of the tour's 32 shows were held at Live Nation venues, with a Live Nation spokesperson stating that at the company's properties, over 90% of fan waste was reused, composted, recycled or donated. A select number of these sites have achieved a 99% waste reduction.

This breaks down to 100,000 pounds of waste diverted from landfills. Live Nation says that amount would fill 25 yellow school buses. Regardless, Live Nation and the band claim that approximately 150,000 plastic water bottles were saved from use, while 1,500 aluminum cans recycled by fans at Live Nation venues on the tour were used to create several aluminum guitars that were given to Dave Matthews for charity. purpose.

In addition, approximately 3,200 meals were donated to local community organizations at tour stops.

Those numbers mark a victory for Dave Matthews Band and Live Nation, as both outlined a goal of diverting at least 90 percent of fan-generated waste from landfills when the tour was announced last January.

The project by the band and Live Nation is one of several ongoing sustainability efforts in the touring space. In September, the ever-green Billie Eilish announced that she was partnering with Google Maps to direct fans to sustainable food and transportation options in her current Hit with hard and soft tour. Meanwhile, shows and festivals across the country are increasingly turning to batteries to more sustainably power stages and more at events.