The St. Augustine Amphitheatre’s Green Hands Initiative is a cutting-edge program dedicated to establishing and maintaining operating practices that align with the mission of conserving valuable resources and reducing our ecological footprint. The Green Hands programs work in collaboration with the concert industry as well as the community to reduce unnecessary waste and to minimize adverse impacts on our cherished resources both locally and globally. Our official Green Hands community partner is St. Johns County waste disposal, collection and recycling services provider Advanced Disposal Services, Inc. Together, the Amphitheatre and Advanced Disposal hope to engage the community in its efforts to promote conservation and sustainability.

We work to reduce unnecessary waste and minimize adverse impacts on our cherished resources.

Bring your own bottle to fill up at one of our 6 filtered water stations! *

It is common knowledge today that single use plastic is terrible for the environment and human health alike. In a commitment to eliminate unnecessary single-use plastic from the waste stream, Green Hands created the One Less Plastic Bottle Program. Since implementing the program at the beginning of the 2016 season, the Amphitheatre has successfully eliminated over 80,000 single use plastic bottles from the waste stream.

This program was made possible through the following changes:

Installation of 6 filtered water refill station throughout the venue

Transition to boxed water sales through concession

The sale of Green Hands reusable Nalgene bottles for use at event

In a continued commitment to eliminating unnecessary single-use plastic, the Amphitheatre proudly uses Green Hands cotton tote bags for all shopping and hospitality purposes.

"Every year, tens of thousands of whales, birds, seals, and turtles die from contact with ocean-borne plastic bags." -Source 

Recycling on site

Advanced Disposal has provided the venue with 18 recycling bins that are highly accessible throughout the venue. In addition, all of our waste and recycling is hand sorted at the end of each event, to be sure we maximize our recycling potential.

Venue Garden and Compost Program

The Amphitheatre staff and all on-site catering companies proudly compost all allowable food waste into our large, 3-bin compost station. The finished compost is used to feed the 7-bed venue garden that was built in partnership with Southern Horticulture of St. Augustine. The beds are home to a variety of flowers, herbs and our beloved datil pepper, which are maintained by staff and used for hospitality purposes on show days

In an industry that relies heavily on lighting, our commitment to LED lighting is a significant aspect in our commitment to conservation.  There are many benefits of switching to LED lighting over incandescent, including energy consumption and the elimination of mercury-laden components.

The St. Augustine Amphitheatre  has been working hard to transition to LED lighting.  The following lighting has been successfully converted to LED:

1. All aisle lights for the seating bowl

2. All house lights under the main canopy

3. All lighting for our Backstage Porch

4. All lighting for our brand new Front Porch

5. All lighting in catering room and dressing rooms backstage

6. All bathroom lighting

The following LED transition will take place in the 2017 season:

1. Palm tree lights leading into the plaza and parking lot

2. All parking lot lighting

3. All stage work lighting

* No mercury!

* 5x the lifespan of other bulbs!

* Emit no heat!

* Decrease stress levels in humans!

DID YOU KNOW: It takes AT LEAST 450 years for a piece of plastic to degrade completely? Until then, it breaks into smaller, toxic particles that leech into our food, beverages, oceans and land.

Because disposables are an unfortunate necessity of a concert venue, the Amphitheatre has committed to a venue-wide transition to BPI certified biodegradable disposables in the 2017 season. What does this mean?

All of your cups, lids, straws, forks etc are made of plant based resins, instead of petroleum.  They degrade in our lifetime, and do not contain toxic chemicals that have a habit of leaching into our bodies and oceans.

The venue has also committed to biodegradable cleaning supplies, when available.

Sustainability begins with community!

Our Community Impact Program is our commitment to creating valuable partnerships with our neighbors, to implement sustainability practices, reduce waste and help conserve and protect our local natural resources.