What Hollywood is doing with props to cut waste

Image source, Christine Ro

The world's biggest charity shop can be found at the Materials Oasis in Los Angeles. There are vases, sofas, artwork, artificial plants, plastic bins of sand, wall sections, and even bags of packing paper in this place.

The items are not for sale. The goods here have been discarded from the film and TV industry, and are being offered free of charge to other filming productions, non-profits, schools, or others who can use them.

Set services are provided by EcoSet, the company that runs the Materials Oasis, to help productions reach the zero waste standard.

Reese Medefesser, the reuse co-ordinator for Ecoset, is always surprised by what people will do. Even if his team needs to dismantle a massive scenic wall before people can arrive, every item will get a second life.

Shopping for film and TV will often begin here. EcoSet can be used as a cost-effective alternative to paying disposal fees as well as allowing a production company tout its environmental actions.

An enormous amount of materials are used in a movie. The production team looked for new ways to reuse the materials.

Image source, Getty Images

The dinosaurs were made using moulds made of fiberglass and Silicon. Those moulds were melted down by the scenery company.

The stunt wire was pulled apart to make a new wire.

The second part of the series is about making the TV and film industries more eco-friendly. The first part is available here.

There are a number of film studios that have set goals for the future. These have differing levels of ambition, but they generally incorporate some level of waste reduction, from donating or composting leftover food to replacing single-use plastic water bottles.

The fruit is low hanging. Louise Smith, a consultant with Neptune Environmental Solutions, explains why production teams are embracing waste reduction. It's something that people have always thought of.

There could be more production items that could be used. props that have been copyrighted could have their identifying features removed

Existing spaces can be less wasteful than new ones.

Image source, Getty Images

In order to qualify for sustainable production certification, a filming production needs to log waste in order to do so. There is a logo in the end credits of a show.

Albert may need to see a production's rental invoices for second-hand purchases.

These types of certifications are not mandatory. The film and TV industry has created a number of agencies to encourage more sustainable production in the absence of government regulation.

A group with an interest in the industry's sustainable practices is planning to launch at the COP 27 conference in November. The Entertainment Net-Zero Accord is intended to set out guidelines for the TV and film industry that are compatible with the Paris Agreement.

The Paris climate agreement saw almost every nation on Earth sign up to a deal that aims to keep the rise in global temperatures "well below" 2C this century.

After a production decides, often based on corporate commitments, to implement waste reduction policies, the person charged with doing so on the ground might be called an eco PA, a sustainable co-ordinator, or a green runner. It can be a challenge for them to command respect.

Hunter Vaughan is an environmental media scholar at the University of Cambridge. They are working at a huge disadvantage.

The doctor who referred to the hidden environmental impact of screen media as Hollywood's Dirtiest Secret is cautious about the industry's claims of sustainable practices. He says that the screen arts industry knows how to build a public image.

Digital processes have been seen as a way to reduce physical waste. Previsualisation and 3D capture of set components could mean that extra props don't need to be trucked around.

Image source, Getty Images

Digital call sheets, script and other documents replaced the paper that can litter film shoots during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Digital postproduction can duplicate physical processes, which is not helpful for reducing waste. The films that claim to be mostly digital still need a lot of analogue work.

The film and TV industry's impact on the environment is large and multi-faceted. Reese Medefesser knows that EcoSet is not going to be able to change that.

He is encouraged by the changes he has seen, with crews moving away from the old idea of building items for a single use and then throwing them away.

He gestured towards the electrical goods around her. She says that 20 years ago the fridge would have ended up in the trash.

It is not the end of sustainable efforts in media arts. The companies working in this space are trying to make their industry less wasteful.