At first glance, the Orion Amphitheater doesn’t look impressive. Tucked away on the edge of an entertainment district in Huntsville, Alabama, the venue is mainly surrounded by parking lots and fencing. But in the three years since it opened, the Orion has hosted more than 625,000 visitors for hundreds of concerts and other on-site events while generating millions in revenue. Better yet, it’s done so while minimizing its environmental footprint. 

While the city of Huntsville technically owns the building, tvg Hospitality manages and operates the Orion. Founded by Mumford & Sons’ Ben Lovett, tvg Hospitality is an entertainment group that focuses on elevating experiences at concert venues and making them better community experiences. As a touring musician, Lovett was shocked by the amount of waste entertainment venues generate: “As an artist we tried to implement things, but there is only so much you can do if you don’t have the keys to the building.” 

With the keys in hand, Lovett’s group is implementing practices to significantly reduce the Orion’s environmental impact, starting with the amount of single-use plastic the facility generates. The average stadium that hosts 300 events annually trashes 5.4 million single-use plastic cups. In contrast, The Orion is, stunningly enough, a zero single-use plastic campus. 

The facility offers its drinks in reusable Turn Cups, a circular drink system that can be reused hundreds of times before being recycled. Throughout the venue, there are signs posted to inform visitors that the cups are eligible for reuse. Drop-off boxes are also posted throughout the facility, including by the gates, and venue staff are on stand-by to alert guests who start to leave with the cups about the program. 

“Next year, we will hit 1 million cups,” noted Drew Stewart, the Orion’s sustainability coordinator. “Aside from festivals in the country, we’re the largest user of Turn Cups.”

Apart from simply reducing the amount of waste created, the Orion works with a local waste-to-energy company, Reworld, to divert trash from the landfill. Reworld then turns that waste into energy to power the city. In furthering its anti-plastic campaign, the Orion also partners with Tennessee Riverkeeper, an organization that strives to keep plastic pollution out of watersheds. This summer, the partnership resulted in a cleanup of Huntsville’s Pinhook Creek, a tributary of the Tennessee River, that pulled more than 2,000 pounds of trash out of the water. 

“These cleanups are a great short-term solution, but we need bigger solutions that prevent this problem from getting worse, such as the Orion Ampitheater’s reusable cup program,” said David Whiteside, founder of Tennessee Riverkeeper. 

A conservation mindset extends to almost everything the Orion does. Refillable water stations allow guests to stay hydrated without plastic water bottles, and all vendors are asked to adhere to the venue’s sustainability guidelines. Huntsville is known as ‘Rocket City,’ home to a massive space presence, and the venue now boasts many pieces of furniture from NASA that would have otherwise gone to the landfill. The Orion measures and monitors its carbon footprint, grows food in gardens on-site, composts, and has eliminated a lot of food packaging by buying in bulk. 

The Orion approaches sustainability in a way that is holistic and innovative. It has made the experience better for concert attendees. The venue has raised the bar for environmentally friendly entertainment and sets an example that other venues can follow. Musicians and ticketholders can only do so much—with venues leading the way, entertainment could become sustainable. 

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.