Environmental Responsibility
Photo: Studio Everywhen (Brad Necyk x Jonathan Kawchuk) CA — ALL SKY, MIRROR OCEAN.
For over ten years now, MUTEK has been taking concrete actions to reduce our environmental impact. Constantly learning, we are proud to explore the tools, opinions, and options available to us in order to better understand our Carbon footprint and to grow as an environmentally responsible event.
2021 marks a turning point in this respect—thanks to the audience supporting our efforts, an action plan, an eco-conscious production team, and a network of eco-responsible partners.
In 2021, approximately 63% of the waste collected was recycled, composted, and diverted from landfills
Source: Consortium Echo-logique's waste report & estimates from our Women's Environmental Network consultants
Photo: Salomé Perli at MUTEK22 by Bruno Destombes
Each year, MUTEK takes steps to reduce the amount of waste produced during the festival by:
- Packaging the food offer in reusable, recyclable, or compostable dishes.
- Reusing outdoor signage every edition since 2017.
- Distributing our Ecocups at all Festival and Forum venues.
- Removing all single-use plastics from the premises.
- Reducing the number of printed materials for communications.
- Counting on the cooperation of the public, artists, and speakers.
- Providing free water points in the different rooms of the festival, in the dressing room, and on the outdoor stage.
In 2021, MUTEK created a waste management plan for each Festival and Forum venue, encompassing waste collection, recycling, hygiene mask recycling, and composting. In order to improve waste management methods, we worked with the company Echo-logique for waste collection, sorting, recycling, composting, and deposit collection. Thanks to our partner ACT (Artistes Citoyens en Tournée), our artist rooms were certified eco-responsible.
Vivats RECYC-QUÉBEC Prize 2021
In 2021, MUTEK was a finalist for the Vivats Grand Prize, which recognizes eco-responsible events in Québec, and won the RECYC-QUÉBEC prize in Responsable Waste Management.
- Zero single-use plastic usage on the Festival site.
- 100% carbon emissions compensation for all flights, teams and speakers.
- 106.60 kg of residual materials collected and sorted by Echo-logique.
- 77.8 kg of compostable material collected and diverted from landfills by Modus Operandi Logistique.
- 3600 cans collected and deposited thanks to our partnership with Consignaction.
- 100% of printing on recycled paper, with biodegradable ink.
Life cycle project: a commitment
MUTEK is part of the very first Écoleader cohort, a group of cultural organizations aiming to evaluate the environmental impact of their event using a life cycle approach. This project is carried out by the AGECO Group, as well as the Réseau des femmes en environnement and its Conseil québécois des événements écoresponsables (CQEER)
"We are on-site at MUTEK Montreal today as part of the project Assessing the footprint of events using a life cycle approach, carried out in collaboration with the AGÉCO Group thanks to funding from the Écoleader Fund. The objective is to accompany the MUTEK team in the collection of data related to, among other things, procurement, food, waste management, and transportation. Stay tuned for more news on this great project!"
- Amandine Gourchette & Chloe Gagnon Champigny
PLANETAIR certificates (2020, 2021)
Since 2011, MUTEK has been committed to offsetting its greenhouse gas emissions with the Planetair association. In 2021, with the help of contributions from the public that we have matched, we have offset 130.72 tons of CO2 in 2021, an increase of 45% compared to 2019.
Planetair is an initiative of the UNISFERA International Centre, a Canadian not-for-profit organization founded in 2002.
Thanks to our ticketing service, in 2021 we were able to collect over more than 1500$ in donations for Planetair. This amount was doubled by MUTEK, totaling a $3000 donation, which represents a cumulative amount of carbon emissions offset of 120 tons.
MUTEK supports the local and responsible economy
MUTEK supports the responsible and circular economy by:
- Hiring caterers that use local and organic products.
- Manufacturing MUTEK derivative products in Quebec and Canada.
- Providing local beverages: Dunham microbrewery, Le Seltzer drinks, Royal Blue Gin.
- Partnerships with independent hotels and restaurants in Montreal.
In 2021, 95% of the production equipment came from local suppliers, within 25km of the event site.
ICI On Recycle
Since 2017, MUTEK has been recognized by RECYC-QUÉBEC as a certified establishment under the ICI on recycle program, and since 2019, under the ICI on recycle + Level 2 program.
