Water Bottles

The Off Hours receives Sustainable Style Foundation Tag

The Off Hours is the first-ever film to receive the SSF Tag, the Sustainable Style Foundation’s stamp of approval.  Efforts were made across the production in each department to make environmentally and socially responsible choices.  Director Megan Griffiths and the rest of the production team wanted to create an example that could realistically be followed by future productions, large or small.  No one is perfect, but when a production makes it a priority, shooting green is not so out of reach.

Based on this production’s experience, here are Megan’s top five tips for a sustainable set:

1.  BUYING LOCAL

Stocking the craft service table and catering truck with locally produced goods makes a huge impact on the footprint of your production. Not only are you reducing the amount of gasoline and oil utilized to transport food from far off places to your crew’s stomachs, but you’re also supporting your local economy. This goes beyond the fruit and vegetables you get at your local farmers’ markets–most cities have local brands of chips, sodas, energy drinks, coffee, candy, etc, which are as good or better than national brands.

2.  UTILIZING SECOND HAND ITEMS

Part of the reason productions have such a large individual impact is that each film is approached as a separate and unique enterprise. The truth is that the basic needs of many productions are very similar–and not only that, but the items needed to build a set are the same items needed to build houses, vehicles, etc. Visiting second-hand stores for building supplies, fixtures, furniture and clothing is great for both the environment and your budget. And you can donate everything at the end of production so that it can be reused again by someone else.

3.  RECYCLING & COMPOSTING

On set and in the production office, recycling and composting can make a giant difference. The amount of water bottles and paper that are thrown away on the average set is almost criminal. It’s the responsibility of the production to create a culture on set where recycling and composting are encouraged and supported. Given the right level of commitment, films at any budget level can take this step to reduce their impact.

4.  SHOOTING DIGITALLY

Film is beautiful, but environmentally toxic, and videotape is practically impossible to dispose of responsibly. While technological waste has a big impact of its own, shooting digitally and backing your media up to hard drives is the most environmentally sound method around. Hard drives are reusable, and can be recycled by special vendors if and when they cease to function.

5.  REUSABLE RECEPTACLES

If the budget allows, providing water bottles and travel mugs to your crew is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint. If you’re working on a smaller budget, encourage the crew to bring their own from home (most people have them), or at the very least to label and re-use their disposable water bottles and coffee cups more than once. If every person on a 50-person crew drinks three waters a day, that can add up to 150 plastic items added into the waste stream each and every day. Over the course of a feature shoot that becomes thousands and thousands of water bottles entering landfills on your watch. Don’t let it–provide a water cooler and receptacles for your crew, and ask your caterer to provide dishware and utensils at mealtime that can be washed and reused rather than thrown away.

Project GREENLIT in Denver Magazine

Originally intended as a 15-minute DVD extra, Greenlit became an insightful 50-minute movie about the challenges of environmentalism, both in the film community, and the world at large. It even had a green score — Bailey enlisted composer Craig Richey to make instruments out of recycled water bottles and egg cartons. “I ended up learning so much that I had to let other filmmakers know how much we were wasting,” says Bailey, whose composting and waste management efforts were boosted by coproducer Lauren Selman, who heads up an environmental consulting firm called Reel Green Media. “We shot in a rural part of Oregon where there was no access to green technology, so we had to be creative,” says Selman. “Instead of using water bottles on set, we lugged our own water jugs.”

via Project GREENLIT – Denver Magazine – July 2010 – Denver, CO.

ECO ART: Plastic Bottle Installation in NYC

ECO ART: Plastic Bottle Installation in NYC

by Olivia Chen

Sometimes it is hard to truly grasp how much waste we create as a society. That’s why NYC-based graphic design agency, MSLK is creating an installation that is an in-your-face visual of the amount of water bottles consumed in the United States. The installation uses 1,500 water bottles, the number of bottles consumed every 1 second — that’s 90,000 bottles per minute Entitled “Watershed,” the piece is meant to inspire its viewers to consider the collective environmental repercussions of drinking bottled water over tap. The installation is showing at the Figment Art Festival, open from June 12-14 on Governor’s Island in New York City. Click through to see a video of the installation’s assembly

Watershed Assembly at MSLK 5/24/09 from MSLK on Vimeo.

Environmental conscious-ness has certainly strengthened in the past few years, but plastic, whether in the form of a bottle, bag or other types of packaging, are still everyday objects in most people’s lives. Furthermore, most people aren’t disposing of plastic responsibly: according to MSLK, 80% of water bottles still end up in the landfill. Not to mention the toxins that exist in plastic. Bad for the earth and bad for your body, there is no excuse Especially in New York City, where the quality of tap water is superior, DRINK TAP

via Inhabitat » ECO ART: Plastic Bottle Installation in NYC.