Live Nation, the world’s biggest concert promoter, and some of the most recognizable and influential festivals have joined in the efforts to ban single-use plastic straws from their events. The entertainment company has teamed up with the ocean protection group Lonely Whale and committed to removing all single-use plastic straws and introducing an environmentally-friendly paper alternative in their place at its 45 owned and operated amphitheaters across the U.S.
Live Nation is now an official Global Stakeholder of Lonely Whale’s “For A Strawless Ocean” campaign, Billboard reports. The campaign is an open-source guide to reducing the plastic pollution that comes from straws alone and it encourages to “#StopSucking For A Strawless Ocean.” Every day, almost 500 million plastic straws are thrown away – and, since they do not biodegrade, they linger in the environment virtually forever. Apart from the ban, Live Nation and Lonely Whale are also collaborating on a new standard for sustainable straw use during live events.
The “For A Strawless Ocean” campaign has shared a campaign guidebook, an artificial intelligence chatbot, free customizable marketing and venue materials, and resources for discounts on the paper alternatives approved by Lonely Whale.
At the same time, Goldenvoice, organizers of Coachella and Stagecoach, has decided to do something about straws as well – and phase them out of their events. The two festivals will be the first ones in North America to go completely straw-free!
“Plastic pollution is a huge problem around the world, and it’s exciting to pioneer change by phasing out the use of single-use plastics from our festivals,” said Mapi Moran, director of festival marketing for Goldenvoice. “Our new straw policy is estimated to eliminate about 300,000 plastic straws from Coachella and Stagecoach. We look forward to announcing similar initiatives later that go beyond just plastic straws.”
Plastic straws are among the many single-use items we throw away every single day. While the stats provided by Lonely Whale and the event organizers about the volume of waste generated by straws are overwhelming, we do all have the power to make a difference. By simply replacing plastic straws with reusable or biodegradable alternatives, we can drastically cut down on the amount of waste that ends up in the oceans. In total, we dump 8.8 million tons of plastic in the oceans annually – so even a reduction of just straws would make a dent in this figure.
Going for a 100 percent no-plastic straw policy for huge music festivals will inevitably keep millions of dangerous bits of plastic out of marine environments – not to mention, this is an awesome way to raise awareness for our overall plastic problem.
To learn more about how you can help the planet by ditching plastic straws and other disposable plastics, check out One Green Planet’s #CrushPlastic campaign!
Image source: Free-Photos/Pixabay
EXCELLENT NEWS! SOMEONE USING THEIR GREY MATTER BETWEEN THE EARS TO BAN ALL PLASTIC STRAWS FROM THEIR EVENTS.
THANK YOU Live Nation, Coachella AND Stagecoach for BANNING ALL l Plastic Straws From Their Events! I APPLAUD YOUR DECISION. May more festival makers follow in your footsteps.