Candy Floss Sustainability

As a team we were very passionate about the concept of green filmmaking. We believed that our project shouldn’t impact the environment, so we decided to make our production as green as possible. We started planning our sustainability goals in pre-production. Thanks to several resources from We Are Albert, Green Production Guide and Green Filmmaking, we made a plan and sent out a sustainability memo to all cast and crew.

SUSTAINABILITY MEMO

“Welcome to this GREEN production! As part of our sustainable production initiative, we will work to reduce our environmental impact and carbon footprint behind-the-scenes. Your support and participation are crucial if we are to achieve our goals in making this the greenest production possible.

Wherever possible we’ll be reducing our waste, sourcing environmentally responsible materials, and implementing reuse programs. We will be calculating our environmental footprint including waste, recycling, water use, materials, fuel, energy use and more.

In this document we’ve outlined how we are planning to be sustainable and we’d really appreciate your help making it work. Please feel free to reach out to Laura or the production team with any questions. This is a learning process for us all, so let’s all work together. New tips or ideas are always welcome!“

WHAT WILL WE DO AS A PRODUCTION

  • We will print as few call sheets as possible and will mostly work digitally.

  • We will use recycled paper.

  • Use green vendors as much as we can.

  • Recycle paper, glass, plastic, metal and batteries and provide clearly marked bins.

  • Sell or donate props and costumes after the shoot.

  • Purchase carbon offsets.

  • We won’t use plastic bottles. We are striving to use as little plastic as possible so we won’t be distributing disposable water bottles on set. Instead, everyone will get a reusable water bottle, which you can keep after production.

  • We will have a water hog where you can fill up your water bottles throughout the day.

  • We will have soft drinks available in cans instead of in plastic bottles. 

  • Coffee and tea will be available from reusable mugs.

  • We will have (mostly) vegetarian catering and cook with the seasons.

  • Most of our packaged snacks that we get will be from vendors that are part of the Terracycle wrapper recycling programme (https://www.terracycle.co.uk/en-GB/brigades/cracker-and-biscuit-wrapper).

  • We will use reusable / eco friendly plates and cutlery for catering.

  • Donate leftover food.

  • Donate any leftovers where possible.

NOTE: By not using disposable water bottles, estimating that at least two would be used per person per day, we are preventing 300 bottles from getting into landfill / the sea.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

  • Don’t throw anything “away” that might be used again.

  • When you find trash on the beach, please just pick it up and put it in a bin.

  • Give us ideas and feedback.

  • No idling: don’t leave your car engine running when not in motion.

  • Buy from charity shops / secondhand as much as possible.

  • Please use reusable bags when shopping instead of plastic disposable ones.

  • Turn off lights and monitors when not in use.

  • Use reusable batteries where possible and dispose of non-reusable ones responsibly.

  • Use sustainable materials.

  • Carpool.

  • Use the recycling bins provided.

NOTE: If there are any drinks or snacks you want to buy outside of the production, then that is completely up to you of course. Please just make sure to dispose of your rubbish responsibly.

Candy Floss Sustainability

As a team we were very passionate about the concept of green filmmaking. We believed that our project shouldn’t impact the environment, so we decided to make our production as green as possible. We started planning our sustainability goals in pre-production. Thanks to several resources from We Are Albert, Green Production Guide and Green Filmmaking, we made a plan and sent out a sustainability memo to all cast and crew.

SUSTAINABILITY MEMO

“Welcome to this GREEN production! As part of our sustainable production initiative, we will work to reduce our environmental impact and carbon footprint behind-the-scenes. Your support and participation are crucial if we are to achieve our goals in making this the greenest production possible.

Wherever possible we’ll be reducing our waste, sourcing environmentally responsible materials, and implementing reuse programs. We will be calculating our environmental footprint including waste, recycling, water use, materials, fuel, energy use and more.

In this document we’ve outlined how we are planning to be sustainable and we’d really appreciate your help making it work. Please feel free to reach out to Laura or the production team with any questions. This is a learning process for us all, so let’s all work together. New tips or ideas are always welcome!“

CASE STUDY

Most of the crew came from Leeds and one crew member took the plane from the Netherlands over to Leeds.

We had hired a van and a few cars and all carpooled together to Blackpool where the shoot took place. We had rented hotel rooms and airbnbs for our cast and crew. We had a no idling policy and as our accommodation was close to the location so we didn’t have to drive far every day.

We had printed whatever we needed beforehand, such as scripts and continuity sheets. We used double sided printing and recycled paper. However, we distributed information mostly digitally. The idea was to put a green tip of the day on the call sheet, but in reality this wasn’t feasible. A good idea for next time is to prepare these tips in pre-production.

We had a caterer who made our lunch and dinners and we had mostly vegetarian meals. We bought a KeepCup and a reusable water bottle for every cast and crew member and didn’t use any disposables. We had proper plates and cutlery as well. We bought fizzy drinks in bulk in cans, which are much easier to recycle than plastic. Whilst we had reusable bags on site for quick last-minute shops, these were sometimes forgotten.

We had recycling bins on the beach but due to high winds we couldn’t keep them up. However, we barely had any waste there as lunch was mostly at the airbnb.

Whilst it would’ve been better to rent the wardrobe, we purchased it as we knew the clothes would get dirty and we needed doubles for some of them.

Due to the locations being mainly outside, we mostly worked with daylight and didn’t have a generator on set. We also used reusable batteries.

We had researched beforehand where the nearest recycling sites were and kept our recycling with us in our accommodation until the day we left and then brought it to the waste site.

At the end of the shoot, a few crew members spent some time recycling and on our way back from Blackpool we dropped off the recycling at a skip. Some of our leftover food was brought to a foodbank in Leeds. We gave the wardrobe away to the cast or donated it to charity.