Here’s a selection: Combining the momentum they have all attained in protecting the environment, the 3 Valleys resorts have already invested in various joint initiatives. Selective rubbish sorting is of course in place in every 3 Valleys resort. The introduction of a communal transport service shared by the different resorts has cut down on individual transport provision, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A staff bus service from Moûtiers to the different resorts has been introduced, as has a carsharing system for the employees of the different ski lift companies and resort staff in general. The movement is underway! At the end of every winter season the now traditional and essential clean-up days organised by the different tourist offices take place; the employees of the different ski lift companies are now particularly aware of the environmental problems, and regularly clean up the areas around the ski lifts. Last but not least, local children haven’t been forgotten: in order to get them into good habits as early as possible, the schools in the 3 Valleys have been giving lessons on selective waste sorting, provided by the intercommunal union.
Les Menuires / St Martin de Belleville
Keen to do things as well as possible, the local councilrecruited an environment manager in February 2006!
The sports centre is equipped with a solar water heater.
Selective waste sorting is organised, with voluntary collection points in the resort.
Méribel
Effluent is treated in a sewage treatment plant and the sludge is treated before being used as agricultural manure. Selective waste sorting and a waste collection centre are available in the resort.
Pollution can be visual too: overhead power lines are progressively being replaced with underground ones. Customer information panels have been put up in picnic areas reminding guests to take their rubbish back down with them.
Partnerships have been created between the resort, the Vanoise National Park and the Tueda nature reserve, with panels indicating the boundaries of protected areas where off-piste skiing is harmful to the animal and plant life.
Val Thorens
The government administration buildings at Le Gebroulaz and the Sports Centre in Val Thorens have solar water heaters.
The local council provides additional help for those building renewable energy installations.
Solar panels provide the power supply for the information system for the Péclet Funitel cabin and the radio relay mast at the top cable car terminal. The terminal heating systems are controlled by timers and thermostats.
The resort is semi-pedestrianised, with compulsory fee-paying car parking. Panels showing the lifetimes of different types of rubbish and environmental messages have been erected at the bottom of the chairlifts.
|
Courchevel
A new sewage treatment works is being built. Customer information panels have been put up in picnic areas reminding guests to take their rubbish back down with them.
As in Méribel, there are partnerships in place between the resort, the Vanoise National Park and the Tueda nature reserve, and overhead power lines in the ski area are progressively being replaced by underground ones.
La Tania
The objective of the resort’s rubbish collection policy is to recycle as much material as possible. The local council has introduced a sustainable development policy to protect the forest there.
This summer, the first Environment Week was held, with the support of the Mountain Riders association.
Brides-les-Bains
Brides is making life better for pedestrians! To encourage both tourists and residents to leave their cars behind, the car parks here (more than 500 spaces!) are free. Nothing is simpler than enjoying Brides on foot: all of the shops and services are less than 100 m from the village centre! So that you don’t have to walk with your skis, the vast majority of hotels and holiday residences have ski lockers at the Olympe gondola lift. And as a bonus, some of the hotels and holiday residences in Brides even offer a free morning and evening shuttle service that takes guests to the Olympe cable car.
Open-air rubbish tip…
The mountains are not a rubbish bin! After two and a half months of hard work collecting rubbish in 41 ski resorts in the Alps, Pyrenees and Vosges (10% of France’s ski resorts), the association Mountain Riders has made a final assessment of its work in 2007. On this occasion, no fewer than 2,500 volunteers collected nearly 20 tonnes of rubbish! The good news is that overall this year again there has been a drop in the amount of rubbish generated by tourism. The symbolic action of picking up rubbish is starting to have positive repercussions in ski resorts. For full details go to the association’s website at www.mountain-riders.org
Green Energy
Another great idea, showing that once again the 3 Valleys is ahead of the game: the resorts of Méribel- Mottaret, La Tania and Courchevel are now supplied with 100% of their energy from renewable sources thanks to GEG’s (Gaz Électricité de Grenoble) ‘écoalp +’ programme. This small energy supplier offers a ‘green option’ thanks to its network of hydroelectric power stations in the Alps. As Claude Faure, chairman of the board of La Société des 3 Vallées says, «We are the first winter sports resorts in France to have an energy supply that is guaranteed 100% from renewable sources. Let’s hope that others will follow the path we have taken.» For more information about energy from renewable sources, go to http:// www.electricite-verte. com/espace-professionnels To find out which electricity suppliers offer a green option (in France) go to www. greenpeace.fr/EPR/offresvertes.php3 |
