By Kris Barberg

It is common for a brand to message its sustainability initiatives in television commercials, but what is the environmental impact of creating an ad?  Beverage containers, food waste, packaging materials and large constructed set pieces are examples of the all-too-often unfortunate result of our industry’s creativity. A television ad lasts for 60 seconds or less on screen, but the enormous amounts of discarded materials used to produce an ad can languish in a landfill for a lifetime. Each year more than 8 million pounds of waste are discarded in Los Angeles alone from commercial productions. A typical commercial shoot generates 500 – 1,000 pounds of waste per day.

In the past five years, major brands like Target, Honda, Campbell’s Soup Company, Subaru, Old Navy and Samsung have become leaders in sustainable practices on their commercial sets in LA and other filming markets. By adopting a Zero Waste production standard, these brands are discovering that they can align their advertising practices with Corporate Social Responsibility goals. This results in maximizing resources and donating what’s used behind the scenes and on camera to charities, schools, theaters, artists and individuals. That’s a win for everyone.

What is Zero Waste Production?
Zero Waste is defined as 90% or higher diversion from landfills. Zero Waste production includes minimizing disposable products, comprehensive recycling by the crew on set, as well as composting food waste and liquids. EcoSet takes care of this for our brand clients, but every set can prioritize sustainability if there is a clear plan in place and someone designated to oversee it.

Add a few suggested steps that any production can achieve:
• Avoid discarding hundreds, often thousands of plastic water bottles by using larger volume refilling dispensers and reusable water bottles
• Prevent waste by requiring caterers to supply real cutlery and plates for the entire crew for sit-down meals
• Rent the same number of recycling bins as trash bins, position them in pairs throughout set, and clearly label which materials can be collected
• Plan in advance for recycling follow-through, and designate someone to ensure that collected materials are actually being properly managed each day

Beyond the basics, the largest impact of a production is in the construction and prop materials used to create each scene that exists for only a few days of shooting.  Holiday ads featuring snowy scenes are common, but where does the fake snow go after the shoot?  A living room scene may not have been shot in an actual house, but instead filmed on a soundstage with theatrical walls, sub-flooring and linoleum. What happens to the walls, flooring and any scrap wood left over after the shoot wraps?  For most shoots, the answer to this question is ‘in a dumpster,’ but with thoughtful planning and outreach to the local community, many of these discarded yet still useful items can be re-circulated to improve people’s lives and enable non-profit groups to do more with their limited budgets.

Part of our work is to be a "year round Santa Claus" to local non-profits, donating clothing, shoes, furniture, décor, home goods, sporting goods, school supplies, outdoor items, toys, holiday decorations and more. With many non-profits needing resources for families in need, these items are easy to distribute from a production. The more challenging items to donate are constructed set pieces, custom props, scrap materials and landscaping elements like sod and sand. Here are a few examples that EcoSet has initiated on behalf of commercial productions:

60 tons of sand was donated within 8 miles of the stage to a wildlife sanctuary and community golf course.
A large steel-framed wooden game show set weighing more than 15,000 pounds was donated to a music festival and several local artists.
Twenty-five pallets of sod were delivered to complete a landscaping project on the grounds of a transitional living facility.   
A flatbed truck full of about 80,000 carrots was given to several area food banks, and remnants were given to local farmers as feed for their horses and goats.  
Several aisles of commercial shelving from a large retail store scene now host school and art supplies that are distributed for free to teachers at a local charity.
Lighting gels, duvetyne, rope, plastic sheeting and other discarded lighting expendables are donated to film students at AFI, UCLA, USC and other local film studies programs.

Beyond diverting waste from landfills, these donation efforts benefit the advertisers as well by serving various communities in need and mirroring the brand’s over-arching community investment commitments.  It takes advance planning, but there are so many non-profits, schools and artists eager to take “cast offs” to support their programs and projects.

While EcoSet works nationwide, we saw a unique opportunity to provide for our Los Angeles community by establishing a resource center called EcoSet’s Materials Oasis. The Oasis is a place of abundance where discarded, yet usable set items can be found. Salvaged and lower valued reuse materials recovered from sets are given to the public free of charge. Scrap materials such as wood, set walls, fabric, flooring, carpeting, rope, lighting expendables and packaging materials are given to anyone who can use them for projects. To date, we have diverted an estimated 405,000 pounds of reusable materials (202.5 tons) from the commercial shoots we’ve been involved with. That’s approximately the weight of 29 school buses.

As we celebrate Earth Day, it’s time to use our industry’s persuasive power to create change in our own culture, and take action to adopt better practices. We know it works because in five years, we’ve kept more than 348 tons of discards from reaching landfills and avoided the use of well over 150,000 plastic water bottles on set. On behalf of our clients, we’ve donated more than half a million dollars worth of wardrobe, props and set dressing to non-profits in the US and Canada. Countless filmmakers, artists, theaters, students and individuals have benefitted from reusable materials in more than 15 cities. Our hope is that one day what we advocate and achieve on behalf of our partnering clients becomes standard practice for all productions.

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     Kris Barberg is the co-owner and executive director of EcoSet Consutling. EcoSet is an environmental production resource committed to implementing customized, practical and sustainable solutions for commercial productions and large-scale events. 

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