Environmental Production Suggestions: The Green Production Office

Many of the decisions made in the production office affect the way the entire production impacts the environment. Learn how to set up a production office that impacts on sustainable development, without having any noticeable impact on the production itself.

Whether you're on a stills shoot, awareness of issues of sustainable development begins with the very set up of the production office.

In setting up a production office, you can choose to do less of the bad things and more of the good things, without having any noticeable impact on the production itself.

The following are a few easy steps you can take to protect the planet:

Don’t forget; make an effort to buy locally produced goods and products wherever possible – money that stays within the community is good for the community, good for the Stills Production industry. It also contributes to your BEE scorecard……

Callsheets & Printed Materials

Use both sides of the paper. Doing double-sided copies is easy, and you cut in half the amount of paper you use.

Don't use bright-coloured paper on script revisions – it has to be bleached and is harder to recycle

Always recycle old paperwork. Make sure everyone who gets copies has easy access to a paper recycling container.

Office Products

Buy paper with recycled content – the higher the better.

Given a choice with any office product, look for the one with recycled content, or that is recyclable. For example, if you need padded envelopes, get those with fibre padding instead of plastic bubble padding.

Recycle used toner cartridges. Most office supply stores provide postage-paid envelopes to mail used printer and copier cartridges to recycling facilities.

Be sure to provide recycling containers in highly visible locations.

Communicate with cast and crew electronically if possible, instead of sending paper memos.

When you wrap production, donate leftover office supplies to a non-profit group or school. Don't throw anything away – somebody else can use it.

Janitorial Paper and Cleaning Products

Buy paper towels, napkins and toilet paper with recycled content. Today, the quality is comparable to virgin materials. Natural colour is better than bleached.

Avoid cleaning products with toxic chemicals. Nontoxic products are widely available.

Packaging

When you're ordering supplies, ask the vendor if they can deliver in reusable containers, such as plastic crates.

If you're ordering breakable stuff, ask for (almost) any packing material other than styrofoam peanuts – you can get biodegradable peanuts, paper, or even those new air-filled plastic pillows.

Promotional Marketing Items

If you're looking for promo items, try a vendor that specializes in environmental items. SAASP has extensive contacts within the local community. You can get shorts made out of recycled soda bottles, cups made with recycled currency, and even toothbrushes made with recycled plastic that you mail back when they get old (to be recycled again)!