Stages Northwest, Inc. has a commitment to reducing the environmental impact of events and we believe that event organizers have a unique opportunity to make a difference using their buying power and influence.

As an event staging rental company, we understand the importance of using the Earth’s resources wisely and seek to reduce, reuse, and recycle whenever possible. As an example, following is a list of equipment we divert from the landfill:

  • Stages
  • Truss
  • Stairs
  • Barricade
  • Skirting
  • Decks
  • Tents
  • Flooring

  • Client Sets
  • Furniture
  • Products

  • Batteries
  • Steel
  • Aluminum
  • Wood products

In addition, our commitment to the social impact of events is evident in the hiring process for inclusivity and diversity for our workforce, policies and procedures, and our pro-bono work supporting such organizations as the Special Olympics, Oregon Food Bank, Narcotics Anonymous, MLK Dream Run and Locks of Love Clark County.

Top Ten Things You Can Do to Make Your Event More Sustainable

  • Develop a recycling/compost program and work with your venue’s local waste and recycling infrastructure.
  • Appoint a recycling coordinator for pre-planning and onsite.
  • Purchase green power for the stage and lighting or use biodiesel for generators.
  • Institute a paperless ticketing system such as Brown Paper Tickets.
  • Ask food vendors to serve local, sustainable food.
  • Do not allow vendors or the venue to serve food in non-recyclable plastics and avoid single use plastics such as straws.
  • Provide incentives for the audience to use mass transit.
  • Purchase carbon offsets to mitigate the travel by artists.
  • Develop talking points for the artists to discuss what is being done to green the event.
  • Get started.  Choosing even one idea from this list will have a huge impact.  Measure what you have done and build on your success next year.

Additional Green Festival, Concert and Event Resources

We would also like to provide the following resources to assist you.

  • Global Urban Development’s article on “Producing Environmentally Responsible Olympics and Greening Major Public Events.”   The article provides information on efforts to green events as well as background information on carbon offsets and reducing your event’s environmental footprint.
  • Jack Johnson’s Greening Tour As a case study, this website and shared resources are based on his tours and their impact.
  • Green Highway is the online companion to Bonnie Raitt’s project which tours with her. It includes information on greening your tours.
  • Events Industry Council has webinars, articles, resources and networks devoted to producing sustainable events.
  • Green Festivals  A guide to greening your festival or event for both the organizer and attendee
  • MeetGreen assists event organizers interested in producing environmentally responsible concerts and events with training, resources, an event sustainability calculator to measure your greening efforts and compare it with other years or similar size festivals and events. 
  • My Event Footprint is for event organizers, attendees, and sustainability professionals, My Event Footprint makes generating sustainability facts easy and fun.  
  • Sustainable and Safe Events is for event organizers to plan sustainable and safe events that the MeetGreen experts have compared CDC guidelines to their own sustainable guidelines.