ReGeneration Road Trip: There’s no green business like show business
Film Biz Recycling aims to roll credits on the wasteful film industry
When a director yells “cut!” on the set of a TV show, commercial, or feature-length film, the cameras may stop rolling but production is far from over. While editors are looking at raw footage, producers are eyeing premiere numbers, and actors are reading over new scripts, someone else is tearing down the sets and getting props off the lot. But where does this stuff end up? Too often, it’s the landfill, says Eva Radke, founder of Film Biz Recycling.
Once tasked with dumping sets herself, Radke knows the business – and the folks in it – from her years of experience trying to do the right thing without the time or resources. Now she hopes to make a difference when it comes to the egregious waste left after the 200-some films, TV shows, and countless commercials filmed each year in New York City.
Film Biz Recycling serves as a one-stop dumping ground for production companies while turning what would have been landfill waste into much-needed donations or hard-to-find props that can be rented out for reuse in other productions. For example, a collection of tents and cots from the set of a TV special was recently donated to a group of Girl Scouts – providing them with much-needed camping supplies that otherwise might have ended up camped out in a dumpster.
Since starting up in 2007, Radke has already served as a landfill diverter for eight movies, 27 commercials, and a number of other productions. Wandering through the warehouse space she shares with nonprofit Build It Green (which focuses on building materials), it was hard to believe how much treasure she’s saved from the trash bin. There were brand-new couches and antique chandeliers, retro salon hair-dryers and custom-made neon signs, rows of spotlights and stacks of 50-foot garden hoses.
After our tour of the warehouse, Radke even let us watch as she opened a few boxes, delivered fresh from a film set. Here are some highlights from our conversation and our treasure hunt:
Sarah van Schagen is an Assistant Editor for Grist.org.
That is awesome. There is so much waste on commercials and films that Ms. Radke and Film Biz Recycling should be commended for taking on a task that is long overdue.
There are so many companies whose commercials claim that they are green, but I wonder how many of those commercials threw everything from the commercial into a dumpster?
by M. Tsuji / October 8, 2008
Yes, as a production assistant, I see waste all the time and it makes me cry. I hope Film Biz Recycling’s mission succeeds — she’s a warrior!
by Sandra P. / October 8, 2008
VERY INTERESTING. I AM SURPRISED NOONE ELSE HAS COME UP WITH THIS IDEA. I HAVE LEARNED WITH MY SONS IN THE INDUSTRY THAT SOOOOOOO MUCH STUFF IS WASTED AND ENDS UP IN THE CIRCULAR FILE! OR DUMPSTER AS IT WERE. BEST OF LUCK TO YOU EVA!
by CHRISTINE / October 8, 2008
Eva is indeed a warrior. To say she’s passionate about this would be an understatement, and I don’t think this will be the last the world will be hearing from her.
It was an honor and a pleasure to talk to her (not least because she’s a fellow Longhorn - Hook ‘em Horns!), and Sarah did a fantastic job summing up the appointment and why Film Biz Recycling is so important.
by Todd Dwyer / October 8, 2008
Eva, you are simply amazing. I remember when you were coming up with this idea and really, I can think of no one other than Ms Eva who has the horsepower and persistence to pull this off… very well done.
by Stan Harris / October 11, 2008
Yea it’s sad but true…. Entire sets…doors, windows, moldings, flooring,
furniture ane everything you can think of basically (up till now) has just been chucked in the dumpster.
A few corperations… Wendys, Dunkin Doughnuts, Ruby Tuesdays, to name a few (there are others) store and re-use their sets. This is great! It’s also the exception.
This is a great Idea that deserves attention. Eva thank you… Everyone in the film, commercial & TV industry, has to turn green.
Chris Myers
Producer
by Chris Myers / October 13, 2008
[…] (10/8/08) NYC MEDP member and NYC’s very own Film Biz Recycling was featured on The ReGeneration.org collumn, ‘Regeneration Road Trip,’ by Sarah van Schagen, assistant editor of Grist.org. Read the full article. […]
by Film Biz Recycling Interview on Regeneration Road Trip! - ReUse Alliance - A Professional Network for the Nonprofit Reuse Sector / April 30, 2009
go EVA, great initiative
by MP / January 5, 2010
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