Written by Jazreen Harith, an assistant manager at the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS).

As the third quarter of 2026 winds down, Malaysia is set to host a dense lineup of international concerts across major venues in Kuala Lumpur, from REX KL to the 80,000-capacity National Stadium. Featuring acts such as Post Malone, The Weeknd, BTS, Avenged Sevenfold and BABYMONSTER, these events attract large audiences and generate significant economic activity across the tourism, hospitality and retail sectors.

This is the peak of Malaysia’s orange economy, with its vibrant spectrum of creative industries, live talent and cultural tourism that drives millions of ringgit into local hotels, transit networks and retail hubs. Major international concert promoters and event organisers have successfully transformed Kuala Lumpur into a mandatory regional stop for global tours. At the same time, leading financial institutions and payment networks are aggressively capitalising on this boom by backing exclusive ticket pre-sales and sponsoring high-visibility experiential marketing zones.

However, alongside the commercial benefits of these large-scale events is a growing environmental footprint. As Malaysia’s live events sector continues to expand, greater attention should be given to reducing waste. Adopting circular economy principles, where materials are reused, repaired, refurbished or recycled rather than discarded, could help reduce the sector’s environmental impact while supporting its long-term sustainability.

To understand the scale of the challenge, one needs to look at the ground after the house lights turn on. While a single mega-concert at the National Stadium Bukit Jalil can attract up to 80,000 fans and generate metric tonnes of waste in just one evening, recent municipal cleanup operations demonstrate both the scale of the challenge and progress being made. During Kuala Lumpur’s 2026 New Year’s Eve celebrations, Alam Flora deployed 152 personnel overnight to clear 3.2 tonnes of waste across major hotspots. The anatomy of concert waste is predictable but devastating: single-use plastic cups from beverage vendors, discarded food packaging, synthetic promotional materials and tens of thousands of cheap, battery-powered LED wristbands or printed merchandise designed to last for exactly three hours before entering a landfill.

Moreover, the commercial ecosystem that supports these events exacerbates the issue. Corporate sponsors erect massive, temporary experiential booths made of treated plywood, vinyl banners and single-use plastics, all dismantled and tossed into industrial dumpsters forty-eight hours later.

For a country like Malaysia, which is actively striving to meet its net-zero targets under the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) and grappling with diminishing landfill capacities, treating the live entertainment sector as an environmental exemption is no longer possible. The carbon footprint of flying international artists, their supporting crews and production setups to Malaysia is already massive. Compounding it with unmanaged, localised waste streams has become an unsustainable luxury. If the orange economy wants to maintain its social licence to operate, it must take institutional responsibility for its waste.

The solution does not lie in cancelling the music or having fewer concerts but it lies in transforming how the live event industry operates. Live entertainment must move toward a circular economic framework, where every piece of material brought into a venue is designed to be restored, repurposed or recycled.

The circular solution and the power of the purse

First, mega-event providers must institutionalise absolute bans on single-use plastics within venue perimeters. This is not an idealistic pipedream as global templates exist. Promoters can mandate the use of standardised, deposit-return aluminium cups or certified compostable serveware across all food and beverage concessionaires. By treating a beverage cup as a reusable asset rather than a disposable convenience, venues can slash municipal waste volumes overnight.

Second, the tech-driven fan experience must be greened. The dazzling sea of lights created by synchronised LED wristbands and hand banners, a staple of modern K-pop and pop concerts, must be subject to mandatory collection and refurbishment cycles. Fans must be structurally incentivised to return these devices at stadium exits, allowing operators to replace batteries and re-use the materials for subsequent tour legs rather than letting them rot as electronic waste.

Banks and financial brands wield immense leverage over promoters. By incorporating strict Green Rider clauses into their sponsorship contracts, financial institutions can and should dictate terms. They can demand that activation booths utilise modular, rented architectural components that are reused within the event sector, rather than custom-built single-use structures. They can fund localised waste-sorting infrastructure within stadiums, which would transform the chaotic floor trash into highly organised streams of clean recyclables.

When a corporate sponsor aligns its brand with a major cultural event, it inherits that event’s environmental scorecard. Investing in a circular event framework isn’t just corporate social responsibility; it is brand protection in an era where consumers are increasingly hyper-aware of corporate greenwashing.

The government does not need to reinvent the wheel to make events greener because they can simply plug environmental standards into regulatory processes that already exist. For instance, concert organisers currently undergo a post-event check on local spending and hiring to collect government rebates of up to RM1.5 million per artist and this same review should require them to hit strict waste reduction targets before any payout is made. On top of that, Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil’s Orange Economy Council offers a ready-made platform to lock sustainability directly into national creative industry rules.

The Malaysian government, promoters, banking sponsors and fans must collaborate to build an ironclad regulatory framework for live events. This framework must incentivise circular waste management, mandate open accountability for event footprints and encourage green innovations in crowd logistics. The creative economy has proven its power to move millions of ringgit and capture the collective imagination of the nation. It must now prove it has the maturity to protect the environment that hosts it. It is time to turn the volume up on sustainability.

This article was featured in The Edge Malaysia, 15 September 2026

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or positions of IDEAS Malaysia. All opinions are the author’s own