January 4, 2010 - The Broadway Green Alliance (BGA)
marked its one year anniversary on December 16 with an industry-wide electronic
waste recycling collection. Actors, union members, producers, general managers
and theatres from across the Great White Way honored the accomplishments of the
first year by coming together to drop off their e-waste and celebrate with the
Natural Resources Defense Council in Duffy Square.
“I’m thrilled with
the way in which the theatre community has united to make theatre and our
community greener,” said David Stone, producer of Wicked and Next
to Normal. “We have made great progress this year and built momentum that
will lead to even greener theatre in the future.”
The BGA was created in
2008 as an Ad Hoc Committee of the Broadway League and is an industry-wide
initiative that seeks to educate, motivate, and inspire the theatre community
and its patrons to adopt environmentally friendlier practices in theatrical
production and everyday life. Working closely with the NRDC, the BGA identifies
and disseminates better practices for theatre professionals and reaches out to
theatre fans throughout the country.
In its first year, the BGA has
already made great strides toward improving the industry's energy efficiency,
strengthening its recycling programs, and cutting its waste.
- Theatres
have begun major recycling and energy curtailment programs, as well as switching
to more eco-friendly cleaning products and appliances. Over 97% of the marquee
and outside lighting of Broadway theatres have been changed to LEDs or
CFLs.
- The Broadway community has adopted greener methods of disposing
of sets from closing productions. Approximately 84% of scenery from shows that
closed during the 2008/2009 season was recycled or reused instead of going to
a landfill.
- Backstage, many participating productions now use
water filtration systems, turn off and unplug electrical devices, and limit
paper and battery usage.
- Touring shows participating in Touring Green
have offset over 4,000 tons of carbon emissions from moving their equipment by
investing in wind power, methane digesters and other projects through Native
Energy.
The e-waste drive in Duffy Square was organized by the BGA to
help the community responsibly dispose of their electronics. The theatre
community dropped off their personal e-waste for recycling, including cell
phones, home phones, desktop computers, printers, laptops/notebooks, LCD and
flat panel monitors, CRT based monitors, keyboards, dry cell batteries, PDAs,
VCRs, DVDs, computer speakers, computer mice, and video game systems. Original
songs and show numbers were performed by Broadway casts, including Finian’s
Rainbow, Guys & Dolls, Mamma Mia!, 9 to 5,
Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime, South Pacific, The
Little Mermaid and Wicked.
Theatre fans can do their part
by taking their old electronics to retailers with recycling programs, mailing
them back to manufacturers, or organizing a recycling event in their community.
Visit nrdc.org/ewaste to find out
how.
