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Sustainability is a central part of Movin’ On’s mission to create an unforgettable festival experience for Penn State students and the local community.
Allie Riegel (Director of Operations) and Sydney Hageman (Sustainability Coordinator) are in charge of this year's sustainability efforts for Movin’ On 2025! Their work this entire year has been paving the way for Movin’ On to become a completely plastic and waste free music festival in the very near future!
If you are not familiar with Movin’ On’s current sustainability efforts, Movin’ On has been focusing on sustainability since 2017, but these efforts became incredibly important during the 2023 festival.
Starting in 2023, the sustainability team, which features members at all levels and areas of the organization, was introduced to the festival. The main role of the sustainability team is to educate festival-goers about how to make sustainable decisions at concerts and in their day-to-day activities. They also work to sort all trash at the conclusion of the festival.
Allie Riegel states that the trash sortation is one of her favorite parts of the festival because the team “goes crazy running across the field to grab trash bags and work together to lug trash cans.” She thinks it is one of the most fun parts of the festival. Last year the team was able to save over 800 pounds of recycling from being disposed of improperly, an achievement Riegel spoke of highly.
It truly takes a village to achieve the goals set in the 5-year Sustainability Plans. Currently, Riegel and Hageman are working on finalizing the newest 5-year sustainability plan, hoping to have it ready by April!
Another responsibility for the sustainability coordinators is connecting with the community at Penn State. Riegel and Hageman attend countless sustainability events and speeches where they receive additional ideas to implement at Movin’ On events, and where they can collaborate with others.
A key partner for Movin’ On is the PSU Sustainability, who host these events and help them become more aware of new initiatives. Additionally, UPUA donates the quench buggy for attendees which helps eliminate the waste of plastic bottles by allowing them the chance to bring in their own water bottles and have the freedom to fill it up at the festival free of charge.
Learning about sustainability practices is one of Sydney Hageman’s favorite parts about being the sustainability coordinator this year. For her, seeing people in or around the music industry become aware of sustainability is vital, because “People are always going to go to concerts, so gaining an understanding on how to be more sustainable at these events can make such a difference in our world.”
The efforts for sustainability were in full effect at the Spotlight Series events by Movin’ On, where they focused on smaller, non-music, initiatives that focused on the education of sustainability to patrons. At battle this March, a REVERB survey was available to guests which focused on education of sustainability in terms of fast fashion- and because of this a pop-up from ThriftedPhilly was featured to encourage audience members to shop local and thrift more than buy from online sources.
Sustainability will continue to be an ever more integral part of Movin’ On for years to come. They are only getting started with changing the way the music industry interacts with our Earth.
Be a part of the efforts by bringing a reusable water bottle to this year's festival, and always make sustainable efforts everywhere you go!
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