Sustainability
Diverted 51,262 Pounds of Material
Since 2022, Jazz & Rib Fest has taken major strides to reduce its environmental impact by implementing a Sustainability Program at the three-day event, drastically reducing the amount of material sent to the landfill each year. When recyclable and compostable materials go to the landfill, and new items are made in their place, it creates potent greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (30x as potent as CO2), which severely impact our environment. Since 2022, this program has:
Areas of Focus
The program focuses on three sustainability areas at the event: general, food, and beverages. Check out each section below to learn how we worked to divert festival waste from the landfill.
- Offered recycling for the 200,000+ annual festival attendees.
- Provided compost and recycling collection services from 70+ food vendor & sponsor booths.
- On-site recycling sorting center.
- Replaced 10,000 printed program guides with mobile app and large on-site signage.
- Collected used cooking oil and grease to be refined into biodiesel.
- Collected used charcoal and ash to spread as fertilizer on a local farm.
- Increased the number of local and Ohio-based food vendors, decreasing the distance vendors must travel to participate.
- Partnered with the Columbus Food Rescue to donate food to help feed those in need in our community. (New for 2024)
- Replaced single-use plastic beer cups with “infinitely recyclable” and reusable aluminum beer cups.
- Aluminum can be recycled an infinite number of times without degrading. Unlike plastic, which can only be recycled a few times, before degrading to the point where it’s no longer usable.
- Sold beverages in recyclable containers, which on average is about 30,000 servings, per year.
- Partnered with Jackie O’s Brewery for a three-year partnership (2022-2024) to produce all of the beer for the festival.
- Jackie O’s is local to Athens and Columbus, Ohio. Not only did the beer have very few miles to travel, but as a business Jackie O’s is fully committed to sustainability throughout its manufacturing process, from how the beer is brewed to how it’s packaged. https://jackieos.com/sustainably-crafted/
Program Data
Jazz & Rib Fest’s Sustainability Program was made possible in part through the generous support of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Recycle Ohio Grant Program.
