Not uncommonly, we just had a major US retailer shoot a commercial here in Oregon but this one was different, they did it with a sustainable mandate that came from the client’s corporate office. The greening company, EcoSet was hired to oversee the process. EcoSet operate as an “environmental production resource committed to implementing customized, practical, and sustainable environmental solutions for commercial productions”. A relatively new breed of environmentalists are finding a way to green commercial and feature productions in creative and resourceful ways by plugging into what communities already offer.When we got the call from EcoSet we were happy to be able to immediately introduce them to the green resources we already have identified but we still had work to do. They were shooting in an area where haulers did not offer composting for their craft service and catering set waste. Happily, the location they shot at, George Fox Univeristy has a strong environmental commitment and were able to offer composting and recycling on site. On a two day shoot, 817 lbs of waste was diverted from the landfill into re-useable composting, 19% of set waste was recycled, 14% was re-purposed andonly 9% went to the landfill. The use of reusable drinking water bottles prevented the consumption of 200 single plastic water bottles and all compostable silverware was used.
Some shelters received repurposed set props of kitchenware and baking decorations, two artists received left over set builds and woods scraps, and furniture, fabric and other set pieces were donated to the YWC and The Community Warehouse and the Janus Youth Programs . All left over lighting and expendables were re-homed at the George Fox Univeristy Film Dept.
This is the second professionally greened production that has shot in Oregon, (the first being “The River Why”) and this month will see the first series (“Grimm”) shot in state that has a green mandate. NBC Universal require all their shows to follow their environmental policy using their “Green Is Universal” campaign. We will be working with the city of Portland, PSU, Metro and many other local green vendors and services to help them attain their goal.
-Jane
