WASTE MANAGEMENT.
DID YOU KNOW?
If all the waste on a global level was put on trucks the line would go around the world 24 times2?
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A large film production can produce up to 347 tons of waste per production4. That’s more than three times what the average citizen of the US generates in their lifetime4. Every day on set, hundreds of plastic water bottles, plastic plates, utensils, coffee cups, table cloths, and other items are used once and thrown away. For a typical tentpole production, recourse consumption data analysis show that its total:
• Waste generation equates to the weight of 313.5 blue whales1.
• Plastic bottle usage equates to yearly average use of 168 people1.
• Plywood usage for studio sets equates to the volume of 2,5 cargo planes1.
WASTE MANAGEMENT.
Even starting from script development, our green consultant can be a huge help in terms of waste management and reduction when acting as sounding board for the makers. The first line of defence is avoiding waste and even better, non recyclable waste. Do we really need this type of unique location made for one-time-use in the story or can we tell the same while re using an existing venue with only minimal changes? In the production phase it’s all about educating the crew about the correct assessment of waste while making sure the correct waste management infrastructure is present. With the right professional ahead of the problem, nobody gets their hands dirty!
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The total carbon footprint of one 500 ml bottle of water is 82.8g of carbon dioxide3.
Water transported from overseas can even have a higher footprint!
A healthy person should drink approximately 1,5L of water per day, it often happens that bottles of water are provided in servings of 0,5 litres. This means that if you have to provide 60 people with 1,5L of water per day, no less than 3600 plastic bottles end up in the bin in a month (when shooting 5/7 days).
This means that the usage of personal cups and tap water for one month reduces your footprint from 298.08 kg to 85.16 kg of carbon dioxide.
CASE.
Sources:
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1. https://wearealbert.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screen-New-Deal-Report-1.pdf
*This report has been produced as a collaboration between albert, the BFI and Arup between November 2019 and July 2020.
2.https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/planet-earth/state-of-the-planet/world-waste-facts
*United Nations report: UNEP Yearbook 2009, p45
3. https://sciencing.com/carbon-footprint-plastic-bottle-12307187.html
4. https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/tag/zero-waste-production
*Tentpole production: A major motion picture which is expensive to produce and which is expected to generate significant revenue for its producing studio and investors.