“Grimm” Honored with Environmental Award

NBC Universal’s series, “Grimm” was honored for it’s environmentally friendly production practices at the 33rd Annual Travel Portland Tourism and Hospitality Industry Awards last week.  This award recognizes environmentally friendly business practices that “help sustain Oregon’s exceptional quality of life”.

“Grimm” has utilized many local green and sustainable vendors during season 1 and plans on doing the same (and hopefully more) during season 2. They begin shooting later this month.

NBC Universal’s Green Is Universal has a corporate-wide environmental initiative that aims to lessen their shows’ environmental impact by working with local resources and finding innovative ways to improve on their overall footprint.  Our office, as well as the City of Portland and Metro, has worked closely with “Grimm” in identify Oregon resources

In season 1 “Grimm” was able to:

sort food for compost and providing compostable utensils on location and reusable flatware and silverware

did not purchase plastic water bottles , most of the crew are using their Grimm stainless bottles

recycle on set

use biodiesel-blended fuel in trucks

use recycled latex paint where possible

use biodegradable cleaning supplies

Additionally, “Grimm” tracked it’s environmental footprint in order to find solutions to reduce energy consumption and this will provide useful knowledge for future shows.

One local company we have been tracking is PlyVeneer and their product, ScenicPly  (an FSC Certified alternative to the set building material Luan).  You may have read about them on this blog before (they won the Oregon Governor’s  Green Leader Award last year).  PlyVeneer and their LA partner, EcoScenic set out to create a green and sustainable product they could use to build sets instead of using Luan.  (Luan uses many imported tropical hardwoods from forests in SE Asia).  Meeting the workers and seeing how ScenicPly is made at both the PlyVeneer plant and the Eagle Plywood plant in Harrisburg, was fascinating.  Who knew so much precision and skill went into making this product!  ScenicPly is being used on sets in Hollywood as well as here in Oregon and is getting good reviews.  The two plants we visited will hopefully be poised to hire on more workers as demand for the product gains momentum.

-Jane