The Eras Tour & the Environment

I recently attended the Eras Tour in Tampa, and while the concert was amazing, there is no doubt that concerts/festivals are often harmful to the environment (even though it may be in a relatively small capacity). This is not to mention the incredible amount of waste produced by a full stadium in just one night!

So, let’s dive in… the Eras Tour and the environment.

First of all, the trash. Personally, my mom, sister, and I drank two 1-liter (plastic) water bottles. We also each ate a hotdog– accompanied with plastic condiment bags and disposable containers. And that’s just the waste produced with food for 3 people. Add 70,000 people to that (and their additional food, merch bags, etc.) and you get roughly 10 tons of garbage. That statistic comes from the 2021 Super Bowl Game at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa (same one I went to). The stadium was filled to capacity on both nights so I assume waste output was similar.

Is the concert venue dispensing of all the garbage properly? For this, we have to consider location. In more environment-focused states, such as California, stadiums are sure to have stricter laws regarding the waste produced.

For example, Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium website states “RAYMOND JAMES STADIUM IS PROUD TO DO OUR PART TO HELP THE ENVIRONMENT BY PROMOTING RECYCLING. SPECIALLY MARKED RECYCLING CONTAINERS ARE LOCATED THROUGHOUT THE STADIUM AND PARKING LOTS. THANK YOU FOR HELPING US RECYCLE!” This was the only statement on the website regarding recycling. Find it here under “R”: https://raymondjamesstadium.com/az-guide

Meanwhile, California’s So-Fi Stadium has a website page dedicated to sustainability and a “Sustainability Report”. Find it here: https://www.sofistadium.com/sustainability/

It’s safe to say that under certain environmental statues or norms, stadiums are pressured to reduce their footprint.

Next, consider special effects. During the Eras Tour, there were sparklers, fire, a bejeweled plane flying overhead, and of course the lights. I couldn’t find any statistics on these effects, but my inference is that while these aren’t exactly helpful to the environment, they don’t appear to be doing considerable damage. This is especially so as each special effect lasts for less than a minute (excluding the plane, which flew overhead the majority of the show). The main impact, I would assume, is the electricity source for the stadium lights.

Finally, the transportation of all the materials, namely, the stage. The ginormous stage likely requires at least 40 semi-trucks, some of which we saw parked near the stadium as we were entering and exiting. When I looked it up, I saw several websites stating there are two stages and, therefore, two sets of trucks. This would lead to around 80 trucks in total. These huge trucks haul the stage (with all its tunnels and parts), props, special effects, merch, costumes, and more all over the country. Even if there is no better way to transport the stage, this is no doubt harmful to the environment with the large amounts of diesel exhaust produced.

All in all, concerts are always incredible, but next time you attend one, I encourage you to look behind the scenes and consider our environment!