Every October, Austin’s Zilker Park becomes a makeshift metropolis.
"We build a small city very fast," said Jake Perry, director of operations for C3 Presents, the company that produces the Austin City Limits Music Festival. "We have a great big party and then we take it out even faster and work on making sure that we leave the place ... better than we found it."
C3 wants to turn the music festival into a model for sustainable events nationwide — with efforts to recycle more, waste less and power ACL responsibly.
Perry said sustainability isn’t just a goal; it’s part of the festival’s DNA.
"ACL has been at the forefront of some of these initiatives," he said. "It’s important to us because we're not dealing with a business problem. We're dealing with a human global problem. And we care about finding solutions to that."
Perry credits the festival’s longstanding partnership with the Austin Parks Foundation for its success on the sustainability front. The group provides thousands of volunteers and helps ensure Zilker, and parks across the city, benefit long after the music stops.
“The Austin Parks Foundation has been the presenting sponsor of the Austin City Limits Music Festival for the last 20 years," CEO Colin Wallis said. "And what that means for us is that we take a portion of the ticket proceeds and reinvest them back into Austin's parks."
Wallis said that since the partnership began, the foundation has received more than $71 million. That money has been used to fund projects citywide — from bridges and playgrounds to public art and park renovations.
Signature initiatives
Perry said C3 looks at every aspect of ACL, beginning with the basics, in an effort to reduce emissions as much as possible. The festival uses biodiesel in all of the generators and equipment on site.
And, he said, the company continues to innovate, like by using battery technology to help reduce fuel usage and, ultimately, carbon emissions.
When it comes to waste, ACL Fest has a few signature programs. Rock and Recycle encourages attendees to pick up recyclables in exchange for a free T-shirt.
"You go to festivals all over the place now and see that people have copied that program because it's really simple and it works," Willis said.
San Antonio resident Elijah Lumbreras joined the effort for the first time this year.
“I find it actually really rewarding because of the benefit to see all of the smiles," she said. “I felt like it was feeding into that side of me that wants to help."
Another program, Divert It, stations volunteers at recycling, compost and trash bins to help festivalgoers sort their waste correctly.
“All of the plates, all the food, all the napkins are compostable," volunteer Nina Hallberg said. "I think we’re actually helping educate people here, which is cool.”
Thanks to these programs, Perry said, 40% of waste at the festival was diverted from a landfill last year.
And instead of plastic water bottles, there are aluminum cups at ACL's food courts and bars. C3 works with a company that turns them into sheet metal for reuse.
At hydration stations throughout the park, fans can refill bottles or CamelBaks for free — a small change that’s made a big difference. Perry said almost 900,000 single-use plastic water bottles were diverted from landfills last year alone.
"So a large impact comes from something as simple as giving people water stations," he said.
A second life
After the music ends, the restoration begins.
“The Parks Department is back in there and assessing any damage, doing any sort of restoration that needs to be done," Wallis said. "If it's a really rainy year, you're likely going to have some turf replacement. If it's a really dry year, you're going to have a lot of watering.”
It’s no small task when 75,000 people pack Zilker Park each day over the six-day run.
And while C3 works to reduce its footprint, it continues to look for new ways to give back.
“We work with Habitat for Humanity and Austin Creative Reuse to take current construction materials and get them into the hands of people that can give a second life," Perry said.
He said 45,000 pounds of lumber and other materials were diverted from the landfill last year.
Any unused food is boxed and donated to Food for All and the Central Texas Food Bank.
“I have this dream that we can get rid of the trash can at the festival. So you come into a festival and you see compost and recycling, and that's it," Perry said. "How long is it going to take to get there? I don't know, but I'm up for the task of figuring it out.”
