Although the majority of a production footprint is attributed to transport and powering spaces, reducing waste is an easy way to get started on your sustainable production journey. Here are five tried and tested things you can do on your production. Take a look at our case studies section to see these ideas in practice.

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This is a really easy one – you will probably find you’re doing most of these already!

->  Go paperless for your casting, encouraging your casting director and casting studio to make full use of Casting Networks’ software
->  Use Dropbox, annotation apps and digi-signing, especially for processing invoices
->  Encourage the agency and your producer and director to use digital PPM books instead of paper copies
->  Instead of printing individual copies, use noticeboards to pin up large A3 copies of your storyboard, schedule, script and call sheet

More advice on our Go Paperless page.

Both correx (plastic floor protection used in locations) and polystyrene are unrecyclable, and will be left on earth long after we’ve gone, so make a pledge to get rid of it on your next shoot.

->  Display shoot documents on noticeboards instead of a polystyrene sheet from the lighting department
->  Ask caterers to supply real plates or compostable alternatives like Vegware (which should be disposed of with food waste or sent to a facility that can deal with them like Quantum Waste)
->  Request that your DP and their electrical team go without poly – there are alternatives
->  Use Locamats, which are reusable mats, or Ram Board, a recycled and recyclable alternative to correx, which comes in rolls (equivalent to approx 13 sheets of correx)

More advice on our FAQ page, in the Getting the right supplies section.

Want to reduce your waste costs? Get rid of plastic bottled water – half full bottles take up a lot of space in those rubbish bags!

->  Hire table top water coolers for your location, or use those at the studio – much better than boxed water options as the water containers are collected, sanitised and refilled so there’s virtually no waste
->  Ask all attendees to bring a water bottle from home
->  For those who forget, supply glasses, compostable cups or as a last resort give them a plastic bottle with their name on it – which must be refilled

More advice on our FAQ page, in the Getting the right supplies section.

We’ve covered reduce, now onto reusing. Here are some ideas for most commonly leftover items post shoot:

->  Send back croc clips for re-bagging by your lighting hire company
->  Donate leftover food to a charity such as City Harvest
->  Donate props and costume to charities in need – see the link below
->  And for those annoying bits that you could do something better with, see our Rehome Your Leftovers page for details on rehoming batteries, Nespresso pods, light bulbs and more

More advice on our Rehome Your Leftovers page.

Last comes recycle… and luckily it’s now easier than ever to do this on set. Here’s how:

->  If you’re on location within London’s M25, Quantum Waste will collect all of your waste and compost or recycle at least 90% of it. Click the link below for more info
->  If you’re in a studio, ask about what options they have for food waste and recycling – often they have a food waste collection from the canteen which you can add your stage waste to

More advice on our Waste Management on Set page.