Implementing A Low Waste Shoot

"Change Begins With Each Of Us"

THE MOTIVE –

Being a part of film shoots for a long time, we have seen the amount of waste created on film sets. That is when we realized how wasteful of a place a film set can be. Right from scrap metal to construction & dismantle of the set to crew food! Tons of wastage has been happening and few people think about how to manage that waste and reduce it.

These large amounts of waste are often dumped, burnt or littered in our environment. These end up in our landfills, rivers and villages – contributing to climate change.

We wanted to change that and begin to invest in a sustainable future. That’s when we took the first step towards the concept of #GreenTheScreen or implementing a Low Waste Shoot. The goal was to help minimize the large amounts of waste we discard from shoot locations into our environment.

THE APPROACH (How we did what we did) –

In collaboration with Skrap as our implementation partners, it was finally time we said – Lights, Camera, Climate Action!

With the help of their Low Waste Shoot to Landfill approach, we eliminated trash piles, littered locations, plastic pollution and food wastage from shoots. Guidelines were sent to the crew a couple of days prior to the shoot so that everyone was well aware of the implementation and followed the steps. The same were also printed on few recycled papers and distributed around the set.

Here’s a detailed list of how we implemented a low waste shoot –

• Set up waste management systems: We set up colour-coded bins with clear signage to guide the crew on the waste segregation process

• Conducted training and built awareness: We not only built excitement among the crew but also trained various stakeholders on the process to follow.

• Donated excess foods: Undoubtedly, we collected all the excess edible foods and donated it to the local staff as well as the low-income communities.

• Moreover, we guided the crew on waste segregation

• Further sorted waste in 12+ categories and weighed

• Leave no trace behind: Worked with on location Housekeeping team to clean up litter and ensure all shoot venues are left clean.

• Transported waste to recycling facilities to ensure responsible disposal: Working with the local partners to ethically recycle and compost the shoot waste

• Crew were informed to carry their own water bottle from home as Water Dispensers were to be on set for refilling

• No single use plastic bottles to be used on set

THE RESULTS –

About the waste, a total of 182.4 kgs was generated at the two-days shoot. Out of which 180.7 kgs or 99.1% of the waste was recycled, composted or donated and diverted away from the landfills.

3.7 kgs or 2% was sent for co-processing i.e. for incineration at cement factories for energy recovery. Only 1.7 kgs or 0.9% was handed over to the municipality as reject waste.

And nearly 71.2 kgs of food was shared with low income households.

Disposal of Resources –

Our shoot became one of the first shoots to use reusable garbage bags and completely avoid single-use plastic garbage bags.

Let’s implement a ‘Low Waste Shoot’ in our next shoot together! Why?

Because it:

• Reduces the rate of reject waste drastically, considering it’s been often overlooked for years now and also helps the environmental impact

• In addition, the water dispensers helped reduce reliance on single-use plastic bottles which is very convenient for the film crew but at the same time brings in a lot of hazard

• Reusable serving wares helped avoid waste that would’ve been generated from disposable serving wares which was equally important

• Furthermore, reusable garbage bags helped ensure there were zero single-use plastic bags at the shoot

Besides that, it even benefited the low-income communities which were located in the surrounding areas of our shoot locations with distribution of fresh food that would otherwise be discarded post shoot.

So, now that you’ve reached here, we’re sure that you’ll implement this on your next shoot!

Go ahead and start today for a better tomorrow!