FQFI Continues to Lead Festival Sustainability

by: French Quarter Festivals, Inc.

French Quarter Festivals, Inc. (FQFI) works year-round to uplift and sustain Louisiana’s cultural resources, but in recent years, we recognized an urgent need to safeguard and nurture our natural resources as well. This means reducing the environmental impact of the cultural celebrations that are such an essential part of life in Louisiana—so we can ensure they continue for generations to come! To address this, FQFI launched a sustainability initiative for festivals called Geauxing Green in 2021. The program focuses on trash and marine debris prevention, waste diversion, and environmental education. 

Since its launch, Geauxing Green has been implemented at seven of our festivals, diverting 212,930 pounds of waste from landfills for an average 36% waste diversion rate. With recycling and composting, we diverted 61.5% of all festival waste at this year’s Satchmo SummerFest and 30% of all French Quarter Festival waste from landfills. The critical ingredient is the tremendous effort of our Green Team, which includes volunteers who have spent a total of 1,780 hours to date on these important environmental efforts. 

Partners like Keep Louisiana Beautiful (KLB) are also vital to the program’s success; in 2024, Keep Louisiana Beautiful helped FQFI introduce a new cigarette recycling initiative and expanded engagement efforts.  The year prior, in 2023, this partnership led to the release of the Greener Grounds Guidebook and Workbook, practical resources for event organizers to reduce waste, increase recycling, and prevent litter. These free tools were created to help all Louisiana events adopt sustainable practices. FQFI is proud to lead by example, promoting sustainability and waste diversion for a greener future in the live event space.  The Greener Grounds guides also created the framework for KLB’s Greener Grounds Grant for large and mid-sized events to purchase sanitation and litter abatement materials. As of November 2024, KLB has awarded over $206,000 to 35 organizations in Louisiana.

Thank you to our sponsors and partners for helping us achieve these results that will benefit live events for generations to come. 

Keep Louisiana Beautiful

New Orleans Recreation and Culture Fund

The RosaMary Foundation

Schmelly’s

Tchoup Industries

Glass Half Full

Solar Alternatives

LifeCity

For more information on how to make your event greener, download our Greener Grounds Guidebook and Workbook or visit www.fqfi.org/green.