Working towards a festival without residual waste

With thousands of people in the city every day during the jazz, there is a lot of litter. In order to reduce the amount as much as possible, the festival's environmental group has set itself the goal of sorting all residual waste at source.

- If we manage half this year, we will be very pleased. Large music festivals such as Roskilde and Øyafestivalen are good at the environment, now we need the jazz festivals to follow suit, says Hallvard Surlien, head of the environmental group.

At the edge of a car park, 3-4 people stand every morning and sort residual waste that has been thrown away in the past XNUMX hours. Here the waste is sorted as food waste, plastic, cardboard and paper, glass and metal, deposits and residual waste.

People good at sorting themselves

Around the city there are also environmental stations where people can sort the waste they throw away. This is how the environmental group wants to make it easy for everyone to sort rubbish. - People are very good at sorting themselves, so we take care of the remaining waste. This year we seem to be able to sort half of them, and it has gone better than expected. So we will probably continue next year as well. Then the aim is to sort even more of the residual waste, says Surlien. - Because we are talking about a lot of rubbish at such a big festival, and it is a big contribution to the environment if we manage to sort everything.

New environmental strategy

The waste sorting is also part of the Kongsberg Jazz Festival's environmental strategy, which was adopted this spring. One goal is for the festival to set a good example for other cultural organizers in the region.

Surlien says that the festival now works with the environment on both a strategic and practical level. The administration is looking at how all parts of the festival can become more environmentally friendly. At the same time, all the employee groups set their own environmental targets and measures to achieve them. - As a major player in society, we have responsibility for a sustainable transition and we also have great influence. The environment must also permeate the entire festival's work if we are to set a good example. If we look at the festival in a larger perspective, Norwegians throw away a fifth of their food and the world's resource consumption is equivalent to 3 globes. That is why the work we do is important. At the environmental stations and here in the sorting tent, we ensure that various materials can be reused.

So now people can drink beer from plastic cups with a clear conscience?

- Yes, if they throw it in the right container afterwards, replies the residual waste manager cleverly.

The environmental group

The Jazz Festival's environmental group consists of 10 volunteers who will ensure that the festival fulfills its obligations in connection with the Environmental Lighthouse status and facilitate a green and pleasant festival. The environmental group also wants to make people aware of waste sorting.

Text: Inger Johanne Midtgarden / Photo: Hans Christian Graaner