Guster knows a thing or two about how touring works — the Boston-based band has been playing shows and releasing music since they first formed in the early 90s while students at Tufts University.

In 2004, Guster frontman Adam Gardner, along with his wife, environmentalist Lauren Sullivan, founded REVERB, a nonprofit organization aimed at making concert tours more environmentally sustainable.

This week, Gardner joined The Culture Show for a conversation on sustainability and the music industry with host Jared Bowen in honor of Earth Month and REVERB’s 20th anniversary.

“Most people, when they go to a show, they show up, they come through the turnstiles and they get to their seats and boom, a concert happens,” Gardner explained. “But there’s a lot that goes on ahead of all of that, there’s buses and trucks and large crews of staff that [...] make it all come together.”

The intricacies of what makes live music happen, according to Gardner, especially on the scale of a nationwide tour, leads to a lot of waste.

“Anyone who’s been to a concert, all they have to do is look down at their feet at the end of the night, and the sea of plastic that they’re shuffling their feet through from all the single-use bottles and cups on the ground,” Gardner said. And that trash is just one part of the waste created during a show. “The industry doesn’t have to be that way. There are simple things that can be done on that front.”

REVERB’s “rock and refill” program, where concertgoers can get a branded reusable water bottle in exchange for a donation to environmentalist nonprofits, Gardner says has already eliminated over four million single-use water bottles at shows. Other initiatives include using sustainable fuel, solar and wind power wherever possible on affiliated tours.

Billie Eilish is one artist who has worked with REVERB. Her recent tour eliminated single-use plastic water bottles and by serving only plant-based meals, the tour saved over 8 million gallons of water.

“There’s real impact here,” Gardner said, “whether you’re a fan taking action — and you’re actually one of millions of fans taking action — or if you’re an artist and [you’re] saying ‘hey, this is making a difference.’”

But the “godmother” of the movement, according to Gardner, was Bonnie Raitt.

“In 2002 she had a tour called ‘The Green Highway,’ and it really served as the model for what REVERB is doing today,” Gardener said. “Not only did she create the template, but [she] was a huge mentor, her and her manager, Kathy Kane, we credit hugely for all that we’re doing today.”

Listen to the full interview above, and check out The Culture Show every week day at 2 PM on GBH.