Sustainability
SUSTAINABILITY
OUR MISSION
Treefort Music Fest believes in community and we made a commitment to be an environmentally responsible festival, for our community which includes our staff, festival participants, performers, sponsors, local businesses, Boise city and beyond.
We believe great festivals don’t have to come at such a high cost to our environment, so we strive each year to reduce our waste, reduce our non-renewable energy use and increase the opportunities for reuse.
Our mission includes you, the festival participant to be a part of Treefort in our effort to be green and to take the challenge and pledge to be green not only during Treefort but year-round.
OUR TEAM AND COMMUNITY
Like most great experiences, it’s the small things that add up to the Treefort phenomenon. And it’s especially true when you think of Treefort in terms of clean and green.
Take a look around. Take a moment to notice:
- The musicians and entertainers stand on a clean Main Stage.
- The sidewalks and roads stay free of trash throughout the festival.
- Treefort decorations and signage are built with recycled materials.
- Parked along the food trucks is a silent, solar-power trailer generating power to the Main Stage.
- The cool Treefort merchandise always strives to help, not hurt, the environment.
Behind this amazing clean and green Treefort experience, is a volunteer community known as the Green Team. These incredible folks work every day of the festival keeping things clean and pointing the way to the recycling and composting bins. Long before you arrive each morning, they’re cleaning up and clearing the way so that your experience is fun, safe, and free of trash.
As the frog says, “It’s not easy being green.”
A huge Treefort thank you to our Green Sponsors, the Green Team volunteers, and you.
We are always looking for great people to bring into the Green Team family so if you are interested in being a volunteer on the Green Team, please contact us by sending an email to green@treefortmusicfest.com.
WASTE
Main Stage
During the festival the “Green Team” is focused heavily on the Treefort main stage area. It is our largest “venue” for the festival and houses Radio Boise Stage, Merchandise, Alefort, Foodfort, Kidfort Food Trucks, etc. It sees thousands of festival goers over the 3 days it is open and is essentially the hub of Treefort.
Our main stage waste collection efforts are top notch compared to many festivals in the country and certainly one of the best in Idaho. We monitor waste stations and focus on waste reduction by reusing, recycling, and composting more.
Boise has standard recycling available and “plant only” based residential composting, but on a commercial level composting is not an easy thing to do. Boise does not have any commercial composting options or services available. So how do we do it? We work with the city to provide a residential composting bin and staff volunteers to monitor those stations closely to avoid contamination.
+ Keep your eyes peeled for recycling and compost stations in the festival footprint.
Venues
One of the great things about being an urban festival is that many venues already have established waste management and recycling practices. In addition, most establishments use reusable food and drink containers so their recycle and waste footprint can be smaller than the main stage.
However, our venues are a part of the overall carbon footprint of Treefort so as we continue our work at measuring and reducing our carbon footprint we will be working closely with our venues to improve where we can.
Boise
We all love Boise and Treefort believes it is our responsibility to be a good citizen. Treefort takes care of Boise during the festival by dedicating a street team to clean up after fun nights of entertainment. Our crew is up early in the morning picking up what got left behind from the night before.
We encourage everyone to Look down. Pick up and keep Boise clean.
ENERGY
Solar
In order to reduce our use of non-renewable resources we continue to work with our sponsors and partners to keep Treefort green. It can be a challenge to power a festival without gas generators but our goal is to get there. And since Treefort happens in the spring we are at the mercy of mother nature to help us out.
Each year we look to find better ways that will maximize our use of solar energy. It is still very much a work in progress but as we move forward we also find ways to reduce the number of gas generators needed.
Carbon Footprint
As Treefort’s sustainability efforts mature we are moving into measuring, understanding and reducing our carbon footprint.
In 2016 we began formal efforts in measuring our footprint. We started with our Main stage area where we control the energy produced and how. In the following years we have continued our efforts out from the Main stage to include venues, suppliers and performers travel.
Top
INITIATIVES
Each year we try to make progress in our sustainability efforts by improving what we are already doing and adding new initiatives that will address a new problem or improve on an existing initiative that will reduce our environmental impact. Here is what we have done so far and are working on this year.
2020/2021
- Pilot a reusable plate program for Foodfort
- Green Team will be managing a wash station for Foodfort and rental cups
2019
- No single use plastics used for beverages (beer, wine, cocktails, water) at main stage.
- Pilot a rental cup program for those who forget to bring their steel pints.
- No single use plastic water containers for artists backstage, instead using aluminum.
- Introduce new Treefort merchandise made from past Treefort signage and decor items.
2018
- Improve awareness using signage for keeping Treefort Green.
- Reuse and recycle much of the Treefort decor built.
- Introduce steel cup use at Alefort to replace plastic.
2017
- Steel pints for DRAFT beer at the main stage to eliminate single use plastic cups.
- New water station for the main stage. Steel cups and water bottles needed, no single use cups will be available.
- Meter water use at Alefort and Main Stage.
- Launch “Refort”, the reuse or upcycle of prior Treefort years decorations.
2016
- Established the Festival Patron Green Pledge when purchasing tickets.
- Established the Vendor Pledge which requires food vendors to use compostable or recyclable containers.
- We are growing the Steel Pint initiative to increase the number of reusable cups during the festival.
- Expansion of our Trash, Recycle, Compost program to other venues.
- Divert plastic beer cups from recycling to local nurseries for reuse as plant start containers.
- Establishing Treefort’s carbon footprint for the Main Stage and using carbon credits to offset.
- Focus on locally made, upcycled merchandise.
- (Planned) increased use of solar power.
2015
- Became the first festival to be a Certified B-Corp.
- Continued the Trash, Recycle, Compost program at the main stage.
- Continued use of Solar Power Trailer.
- Reduced beer cup use by introducing the Steel pint cup which can be refilled.
- Began offering Eco Friendly merchandise (organic blend t-shirts).
2014
- Establish a Green Team of volunteers to keep the festival clean and manage trash, recycling and compost stations.
- Provide a composting option.
- Introduced the use of solar power for parts of main stage.
- We built trash stations from recycled pallets for the main stage to draw attention and educate patrons on our efforts.
FESTIVAL TIPS
- Practice the 3 R’s: Reduce (what we don’t need), Reuse (no single use), Recycle (what you cannot refuse or reuse).
- Walk, bike, carpool, or take the bus.
- Bring your favorite reusable drink container. Don’t forget your steel pint for beer. If you do…City of Boise has your back with rental cups on-site!
- Purchase Treefort eco-friendly merchandise and show it off!
- Bring a collapsible lightweight bag that can be used for merchandise and/or food purchases.
- Do not litter. Use our awesome Compost, Recycle and Trash stations.
- Look down, pick up and keep Treefort clean!
- Spread the word and help others be green.
FAQs
Green Team
Q: How do I get more information on being a part of the Green Team?
A: Send an email to green@treefortmusicfest.com with your questions.
Waste
Q: What can be composted at Treefort?
A: Currently we can only collect items that can be composted in typical backyard compost piles which is plant-based food only.
Q: What can be recycled at Treefort?
A: Treefort uses the Boise city recycling service, main items are plastic, aluminum and paper. Here is a complete list.
Carbon Footprint
Q: What is a carbon footprint and why does Treefort measure it?
A: It is the amount of carbon dioxide and other carbon compounds emitted due to the consumption of fossil fuels. The Main Stage footprint is mainly from power generators and natural gas used by the food vendors. Treefort will begin measuring the Main Stage in 2016 and then move out to include our venues, and performer travels. As a Certified B-Corp, we will set goals to reduce our footprint.
Q: How can I measure my own carbon footprint?
A: Try this.