"Rock the Green" rocks the lakefront

MILWAUKEE -- You'd think a one day music festival with six bands and more than 10,000 people would produce a lot of waste.  "Rock the Green" music festval is out to prove it doesn't have to.

 "We want to produce and showcase a world class concert, get people out and come down and showcase that we can have a sustainable event," founder Lindsay Stevens Gardner said.

The festival is true to its mission.  Everywhere you turn, there are recyling bins as far as the eye can see.

"Everything on the grounds can either be recycled, sent to MMSD, in the organic pile or then compostable at one of our landfills," Veolia Environmental Services marketing specialist Jim O'Connell said.

The food at the festival is organic and locally grown.  Everyone who enters the gates gets a eco-friendly water bottle.  And concert shirts are upcycled.  They are all from Goodwill and have a fresh "Rock the Green" design on the front.

"It's almost revolutionary and pioneering in it's type," Steven Sparrow singer of Morning Parade said. "The fact is it can happen, it's about people putting in the effort to do actually do it.  To go the extra mile to actually show it can be done."

Last year, the event produced just 440 lbs of waste.  Compare that to three and a half tons.  That's the average amount of waste for an event of that size.