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A Blog Action Day champion for less Water Pollution on Film Sets
Sunday, October 14, 2007 at 11:59PM 
Photo: Wespionage of Flickr Many Hollywood and independent entertainment companies are causing water pollution on film sets. This is occurring with lots of municipal solid waste. There are ways that many of us, especially independent filmmakers can change this to create a better future for out environment. It must all begin now, on and after Blog Action Day. Municipal solid waste is a contributor to water pollution. The inappropriate disposal of solid waste is one source of water pollution that can be decreased significantly on film sets. It includes many forms, some of which will be discussed below.
Biodegradable waste: Food and Kitchen waste, green waste and paper.
While film sets may not involve extended use of green waste, the other two are used frequently:
Photo: uberzombie of Flickr
Food and Kitchen Waste
This contains any waste that is derived from food materials such as scraps of meat, vegetable peelings, excess food, spoiled food and other discards from the kitchen. While most film sets do not include residential or commercial kitchens, they do usually provide craft services. This department is where food and kitchen waste can be located. The waste is usually dumped. However, it can be incinerated and used for fuel or fed to animals. When we throw food and kitchen waste in the trash, it is usually picked up by the sanitation department and sent to a landfill.
Landfills are one of the unhealthiest forms of waste management when it comes to protecting our environment. If that was not bad enough, our nation is running out of room. It seems that the solution to that has been to add more landfill sites, loading more pollution into our surroundings. Incineration and animal feeding is one great way that we can support the preservation of a clean and healthy environment. Some may be reading this and thinking “My cat does not like pizza” or “My dog does not eat macaroni and cheese”. These are not good excuses to just dump food and kitchen waste after filming and go on to the next item listed on your call sheet.
Food and kitchen waste can be fed to pigs and other animals. Movie companies and filmmakers who are producing films during the summer can definitely use these tactics as an alternative to dumping it. Hot weather makes food and kitchen waste rot and smell bad, attracting insects that can breed and cause a major disturbance.
Paper
We use tons of paper during the entire movie production process. Every film starts with a script that includes over 100 pages. Multiply that by the number of cast members, staff and others who use the script and that comes out to tons of paper for just one part of production. Paper is also used for budgeting, scheduling, contracts, post-production notes, storyboarding and many other tasks. It is not unusual for one movie production to utilize hundreds of pounds of paper for a film. This is where it helps to reuse paper and recycle more during the movie production process.
Recycling paper will support 35% less water pollution according to Wikipedia’s statistics obtained from the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Film companies can recycle paper to make new paper or reuse the paper for insulation, wrapping or other arts related projects. Much like we use paper for administrative purposes on film sets, it is also the way food is distributed to cast and crew members that contributes to water pollution. Some filmmakers and movie producers use Styrofoam cups and plates when serving food on their film sets. These items are made of expanded polystyrene beads. Expanded polystyrene cannot be recycled easily and takes a very long time to decompose in the environment. In fact, the use of polystyrene (or Styrofoam) for food packaging has even been banned in many U.S. Cities. Therefore, it is much better to use paper cups and paper plates when serving food to cast and crew members on a film set.
Movie producers operating on a larger scale budget may not be directly involved with food handling. Still, it is important to notify craft services and make sure that more environment-friendly items are being used.
Littering also contributes to water pollution. A lot of movie production companies are careful to keep littering at a minimum on film sets. This behavior is especially suggested for independent film productions, as the atmosphere on indie sets tend to be less restrictive among cast, crew and staff members. However, we could be littering carelessly and not even know it. That is because the most common forms of littering involve items that many cast and crew members do not pay much attention to.
Cigarette butts are the most littered items around the world, which is a form of inappropriate disposal of solid waste. Beverage containers are the largest element of litter. These items are used heavily on film sets around the country. Actors, Movie directors, cinematographers, Grips, Production Assistants and other smoke on film sets as well. While there may be ash trays available, many cigarette butts are tossed out during the production of some independent films. This is something that can be changed and placed under control to decrease water pollution for a better environment. The entertainment industry is not exempt from responsibilities and accountability for water pollution. Just because we are focused on making movies does not mean we should ignore how the environment is being treated.
This post in support of Blog Action Day has brought on the development of future posts this month on other forms of municipal solid waste and how we can improve the activities on movie sets in order to decrease water pollution and ensure a better future for the environment. Stay tuned!
All are welcome to post comments below including thoughts about your experiences on movie sets or by observing (by watching special behind the scenes features on TV or DVDs) behavior on movie sets that can be changed to help the environment and prevent water pollution.
Technorati Tags: Blog+Action+Day,, Action+Blog,, Water+Pollution,, Recycling,, Solid+Waste,, Filmmaking,, Hollywood
Reader Comments (5)
I guess I never thought about what might go on on a film set, interesting post for blog action day!
Excellent post in support of Blog Action Day!
Very interesting post, and much of what you say here can be applied to other work sites as well. Well done.
That's one of the most informative blog action day posts I've read. I never thought that a film set could produce so much waste. Great post.
you're absolutely right