Rock the Green (RTG), an annual, outdoor music festival in Milwaukee that features nationally renowned bands and near-zero waste efforts, was recently named the winner of A Greener Festival Award, a prestigious global award from A Greener Festival, a nonprofit that promotes sustainable efforts at music and arts events. The honor recognizes RTG as one of the greenest large-scale music festivals in the world.

Selected from among 40 winners globally and just four from the United States, RTG received the Highly Commended rating for its significant efforts to reduce waste and engage fans. Rock the Green is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and empowering the community to take actionable steps to live sustainably.

“While many music festivals implement environmentally-friendly practices, Rock the Green raises the bar with a holistic approach to sustainable event production to green the event from the ground up,” says Lindsay Stevens Gardner, founder and executive director of Rock the Green. “We are thrilled to receive global recognition for these efforts, with hopes that our model can be reproduced elsewhere to inspire communities outside our own.”

During Rock the Green’s sophomore event, in September 2012, 93 percent of the total waste was diverted from landfills. Concert-goers produced a mere 640 pounds of trash— equivalent to about one ounce of trash per attendee, instead of the one pound of trash on average per fan at a typical festival. In each of its first two years, Rock the Green reaped near-zero waste results exceeding 90 percent.

Rock the Green will return to Milwaukee’s lakefront on Sept. 14, 2013. Visit RockTheGreen.com and AGreenerFestival.com.