Flavored condoms, 120 turkeys, and a free poster of Marlon Dingle: The Weird and Wonderful Work That’s Greening the Film Industry | film

IIt’s two days before Thanksgiving, and Hilary Cohen and Samantha Lo are trying to figure out how to cook 120 turkeys with limited oven space in their food warehouse in downtown Los Angeles. “We’re going to have to do some hacking,” Cohen says. “This isn’t very showy.”

It’s the busiest time of the year for Cohen and Law, associate directors who founded the nonprofit Every Day Action during the COVID pandemic. The idea was conceived to help homeless people facing food insecurity across the city, when Cohen noticed the amount of food wasted on movie and television sets, and looked into redistributing it to those in need. “I remember asking: Why can’t we donate this food?” I’ve always been told that this is illegal and that people can sue us if they get sick. It didn’t take long for Lu, who grew up working in a soup kitchen founded by her father, to realize that wasn’t the case. “In the United States, there is the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Law that has been around since 1996,” she says. “It protects food donors from liability issues.”

They’re not the only women trying to turn the big screen green. In 2009, pioneer Shannon Bart founded EcoSet, a Hollywood-based environmental production resource that offered recycling and composting on film sets, and began donating creative materials to nearby artists, theaters, and schools. In the UK, the Albert Initiative is a national BAFTA initiative that helps the film and television industry become more sustainable. One of its biggest goals is to phase out fuel generators, which has the potential to eliminate up to 5% of all emissions from the sector. “We’re also trying to encourage talent not to use private jets,” says April Sotomayor, BAFTA’s head of industry sustainability. “Even moving them up to first class goes a long way to reducing the carbon footprint of production.”

At the coal production level, Green Rider is a collective that sets environmental guidelines for production, including the use of grid power, the introduction of ride-sharing for cast and crew and the use of beef-free caterers. Their efforts have reduced pollution in productions, including Wolf Hall and Gangs of London, by up to 80%. Tilly Ashton, whom Sotomayor calls “the darling of the sustainability industry,” last year co-created Wales’ first sustainability coordinator training program for aspiring innovators. PropUp is a London-based non-profit organization set up by former producers Emma Chaplin and Kate Allan to recycle props and sets from popular TV shows. Despite preconceptions, what they do is serious business. “One stent can change your life,” Alan says. “Whether it’s a belt that means someone can wear something comfortable to a job interview or a backpack that can help a child escape domestic violence.”

These environmental initiatives flourish through film and television. Every Day Action now redistributes more than 80,000 meals annually. It is also working with major studios including Warner Bros and Disney, the latter of which recently found itself in hot water when it was revealed that the production of its live-action Snow White film emitted 3,153 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. They are also needed more than ever in cities like Los Angeles, where 25% of the population faces food insecurity.

Every Day Action can also provide additional income to people starting out in the entertainment industry through its industry driver program. It works because they are insiders who understand the protocols and timings and can read site maps easily. But most importantly, they are not dumbfounded. “We can send them on set, and they’re OK with just seeing mashed potatoes,” Cohen says.

As for PropUp, it has now repurposed more than 50,000 items and partnered with ITV ReLoved, meaning fans can purchase specialist merchandise and memorabilia from its online store – such as a Free Marlon Dingle poster from Emmerdale or Frankie Bridge’s I’m a Celebrity T-shirt – the profits of which are funneled back into charity. “We recently sold a Fernando sign from Take Me Out,” says Chaplin. Every workday has a similar story to tell. “We once got a bag of 200 flavored condoms and a set of plugs from the Euphoria range,” says Lu. They were rehoused through a local sex worker outreach program before their landlords caught fire, the religious organization the Daughters of Charity, in case you were wondering.

Women dominate the space. A 2023 report found that 58% of key sustainability officer roles are held by women. The world of broadcasting, in particular, is leading the charge, with women like Danielle Mulder and Sarah Peacock leading sustainability campaigns at the BBC and S4C respectively.

The ultimate goal of Every Day Action and PropUp is to inspire more grassroots action, with some small tweaks to regular programming. The duo in Los Angeles have their eyes on an industrial fridge and freezer, while in the UK, Chaplin and Alan hope to open a brick and mortar store. “We’re not sustainability experts, we’re just two women who saw a problem and wanted to do something about it,” Chaplain says. “It’s not rocket science.”