Festival ‘wastes too much carpet’

ECO-ACTIVISTS have started a petition against the overuse of red carpet at the Cannes Festival, complaining that “for years the Palais [des Festivals] has been using up kilometres of barely-used carpet”.

The Greenpride association says that each time a different film crew comes along, organisers change the whole 60m of carpet at the entrance to the palais where the prestigious event is held, “for no reason”.

“Last year one of the organisers was asked why they change it even though it’s not damaged at all, and he said ‘I don’t know’,” Greenpride says. They say the carpet is changed up to three times a day, over the 10-day festival.

Instead Greenpride is suggesting the “pretty crazy” idea of just using one carpet a day. A petition
has gained more than 7,000 signatures so far.

The association says it was partly inspired by a preview of a new documentary, Super Trash by Martin Esposito, coming out in October. Esposito, a native of Grasse who has been living in Hawaii, came back to France and spent nearly two years filming at the La Glacière landfill site at Villeneuve-Loubet, near Cannes, which he claims is responsible for environmental damage.

A spokesman for the festival stated that the red carpets are “totally integrated into the recycling chain”.

Photo: Bledard92 Creative Commons