Thinking Green

Telluride, Colorado is home to one of the most scenic music venues in the world.Telluride Blues & Brews Festival is dedicated to keeping our environment clean and green. Join us in our commitment to ensuring a greener future for the Town of Telluride, our Festival and the planet.

Energy Efficient Travel

Instead of driving your car, choose among one of the many free public transportation services that Telluride has to offer. The free Gondola will take you from Telluride to Mountain Village every day from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m., and during the Festival weekend until 2:00 a.m. The Galloping Goose is Telluride’s free bus service and it runs throughout San Miguel County. Check the schedule here. Biking and walking are two great ways to take in the beautiful scenery.

If you are unable to bring a bike, the Wilkinson Public Library has an awesome bike-share program! The Telluride Townies is a bike-share program that works like a library book, as you check a bike key out from the front desk of the Wilkinson Public Library. Keep it for up to four days (locked up, of course). Reduce your carbon emissions. Bring it back. Call 970-728-4519 for more info.

Goal Zero

Goal Zero’s mission is to provide clean power to the world. With portable solar powered charging stations, lights, backpacks and more, Goal Zero is making it more efficient than ever to check your Instagram or power your camera while you trek around the world. But more importantly, they provide affordable, oftentimes free, energy to rural and disaster areas. Be sure to visit their tent in the Festival to learn more about what they do.

No Single-Use Plastic Bottles

We challenge you to find a plastic water bottle at one of our vendor booths. You won’t be able to because we’ve decided that there are better ways to drink water. Americans use roughly 50 billion plastic water bottles a year, and nearly 80% of them end up in the landfill. One of the easiest ways to cut down on waste is by using a reusable water bottle. Bring your own or pick a limited addition Kleen Kanteen from our merchandise tent and fill it up at one of our free Hydration Stations located throughout the park.

Tasting Glasses and Beer Cups

At Telluride Blues & Brews Festival, we have a lot of people who need cups. It would be really easy (and cheap) for us to buy a ton of plastic cups for the Grand Tasting and beer booths but we’re committed to keeping plastic out of our landfills. This means that all of our beer and tasting glasses are all reusable. Hang on to your cups once you get them and refill them every time you get thirsty - it will save you some money and in turn, save our planet.

Compostable and Recyclable Utensils

Each food vendor serves their food on compostable or recyclable plates and utensils in order to reduce unnecessary plastic waste. Eat some delicious food without feeling the guilt (and waste) that comes with single-use plastics. Once you’re done eating, throw your trash away at one of our Compost and Recycle stations located throughout the Festival.

Compost and Recycle Stations

There are multiple compost and recycle stations located throughout the Festival for all of your trash. Each station is manned by one of our environmental volunteers who can help you determine if your trash can be recycled or composted. In 2014 and 2015, 44% of waste at the Festival was diverted from the landfill. Help us bump that number up!

Volunteers

Once inside the park, patrons find dedicated teams of environmental volunteers, helping to spread the green message by offering to take recyclables, filling water bottles at the filling stations, and helping fans to properly discard their waste in the correct bins near the vendor area.

We're always trying to further our sustainability efforts. If you have ideas that might help us achieve our goal, post your thoughts in the comments below! We'd love to hear from you. After all, keeping Colorado green isn't just an individual effort. It requires progress from you, your friends, businesses and visitors all taking action for change! To read more about the Blues & Brews green efforts, click here.