ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

A public event will inevitably generate a certain amount of waste and the Montreux Jazz Festival’s mission is to limit its creation while at the same time maximizing sorting and recycling.

Last year’s efforts and new procedures saw the Montreux Jazz Festival win the Swiss Recycling Award for 2014 in the communication category. This prize rewards the teamwork aimed at achieving a near 100% sorting rate for recyclables, as well as the awareness campaign on the Festival grounds.

On site, this goal manifests itself in the following ways:

• Returning the site to its original state on a daily basis;
• An Green Team (80 persons) that works 24 hours a day, sorting trash and ensuring the cleanliness of the festival areas;
• An eco-compatible waste plant
• A cleaning-operation of the lake underwater in August

The Festival would also like to thank its partner TGV Lyria, which handles transportation between France and Switzerland for the artists scheduled for Montreux. Our collaboration with TGV Lyria is part of our effort to limit the environmental impact of our event by giving preference to rail transport. On the Lausanne – Paris train route, a traveler emits 20 times less CO2 per trip than by plane, and 19 times less than by car (INFRAS study 2019). 

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Prev’spot

Prev’ Spot is an area of the Festival located on the lakeside promenade that provides a meet-up place and a forum for open discussions on the subject of prevention. This free zone aims to provide a pleasant day for all and is hosted by professionals involved with the following associations. These specialists are all permanently in touch with the infirmary, whose staff are also all professionals.

• Be My Angel (also present at the Police Stand) is an initiative that underlines the dangers of drink driving. Its “Be My Angel” scheme encourages festival-goers to designate an “angel” –  a driver who agrees not to drink any alcohol throughout the evening and drives his/her friends home.
• AACTS Accompagnement, discussion and counseling on risk prevention and reduction regarding psychotropic substances.
• Les Georgettes in Love Part of the PROFA foundation (addressing HIV and other adult issues).
• PROD Proximité-Réactivité-Observation-Dialogue (Mobile prevention center). Coordinated by Montreux’s L’Animation Jeunesse. PROD is a primary prevention and risk-reduction initiative based on observation of the behavior of festivalgoers. It is principally active within Montreux in the zone around the Festival area.

Prev’ Spot also works closely with HES-SO (Sion, Valais). Nursing students work on various community health projects thematically linked to the Festival, and they design a prevention project that they implement on site during the Festival.

The last few years, Prev’ Spot has been enhanced by a team of 11 staff members specialized in nursing, psychiatry, and medicine. Each evening they provide counseling on alcohol and substance abuse prevention, and in the afternoons they organize more general thematic activities.

Above all, Prev’ Spot is a place of relaxation, exchange and discussion in the heart of a festive environment.