Sunphlowers

The Producers of Sunphlowers aimed to make this production as sustainable as possible in line with the Paris Agreement and scientific guidance and recommendations. The Production actively managed their carbon footprint using the Albert carbon calculator, identified where their emissions were occurring, and ultimately reduced those emissions. The Production relied on accurate and consistent reporting and the cooperation of all crew with the approved Sustainability Plan.

In addition, the Production appointed a Sustainability Advisor, Alexandra de Valera, from Ecoscope Ltd., to assist and support departments with the implementation of the Production's Sustainability Plan.

Sunphlowers was a microbudget production which was in receipt of Screen Ireland funding and, therefore, was also in a position to not only avail of sustainability funding to assist the production with tracking and reporting on its carbon emissions, but also to help create greater awareness of how sustainability can be prioritised on any production, irrespective of the budget size. To date, the majority of carbon tracking has taken place on larger productions and therefore little data is available, or widely known, on the environmental impact of microbudget projects as well as the key areas a microbudget project should prioritise to strategically and meaningfully reduce carbon emissions.

Liz Kenny, Producer of Sunphlowers, having previously engaged with Sustainable Production on commercials with Alex de Valera from Ecoscope Ltd., decided to avail of this opportunity to incorporate Sustainable Production practices and principles on her upcoming project.

The five key areas of the Sustainability Strategy included:

1. Communication and Engagement: policy distribution.
2. Waste Management: on set-waste management support + end of project report.
3. Sustainable Food: 100% compostables, vegetarian/vegan options + reduction in food waste.
4. Energy & Travel: consultancy on alternatives + consumption reporting
5. Materials: sourcing, disposal/ rehoming + bring your own reusable water bottle and coffee cup policy.

The Production's total carbon emissions were 4.87 tonnes of CO2e. The Production's top sustainability highlights are as follows:

The Production prioritised producing sustainably from the beginning of production which is reflected in the production's overall carbon footprint.

This was achieved by:

• Sustainability Plan and policy per department developed by the Sustainability Advisor alongside Producers. These were then approved and distributed to HoDs prior to Shoot Day 1.
• Key departments being contacted and assisted with the implementation of the sustainability policy by Production and the Sustainability Advisor prior to Shoot Day 1.
• Attaching a Sustainability Crew Memo to the Call Sheet which communicated the production's goals of being a sustainable production to all crew members prior to Shoot Day 1.
• Having a Sustainability Advisor throughout shoot dedicated to the implementation of the sustainability policy and to assist departments with carbon tracking for Albert.

Overall, crew were positively engaged on this production and this is reflected in the high level of compliance with the sustainability measures that were implemented. For many of the HODs, this was their first time working with a Sustainability Advisor and on a production that was carbon tracking for Albert. Despite this, the openness to change, willingness to learn and positive engagement was observed throughout the shoot by all crew members. Catering in particular were highly engaged and were in continuous communication with the Sustainability Advisor, offering innovative ideas, feedback and requesting consultation for future sustainability measures they plan to implement on their upcoming productions going forward. 

The recycling and composting rate on set was 64.%. The total emissions associated with disposal were 0.0226 tonnes of C02e.

This was achieved by:

• All crew adhering to waste segregation
• Following signage on location for guidance
• Having crew members dedicated to the implementation of the sustainability policy and providing resources to crew to ensure optimal waste diversion results were achieved.
• The use of  water drums instead of single-use plastic and encouraging crew to bring in reusable water bottles from home.
• The use of 100% compostables by catering.

Glon, the Waste Management company which operates a zero-waste to landfill policy, provided the production with a three bin system (green recycling bin, brown compost bin, black general bin) which assisted with achieving this goal.

Food and compost was sent to a commercial composting facility where it was processed to create a commercial compost product for farmers.

Recycling was sent to a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) where the materials are extracted and segregated.

General waste was sent to an incineration plant where it is burnt as a fuel to produce electricity. This is a waste-to-energy model.

Emissions associated with catering accounted for approximately 2.48575 tonnes of CO2e. This meant that in total, meals constituted approximately 51% of the production's overall carbon emissions. In comparison to bigger budget productions, usually energy and travel constitute the greatest proportion of a production's emissions, averaging between 60-85%. The production made it a priority to ensure that catering provided to crew was as sustainable as possible:

• Vegan meals were made available daily with the aim of reducing meat consumption.
• Food was sourced sustainably, locally and seasonally and palm oil products were avoided.
• All dishware, cutlery, hotboxes and cups were compostable to ensure optimal composting rates.
• Limiting beef as much as possible.
• Condiments, sauces, etc. were supplied in bulk rather than single-use packaging where possible.

It is important to note that Caterflix have now made it standard practice to only serve meals on 100% compostable plates/boxes, irrespective of whether the production is carbon reporting or aiming for Albert certification. This isn’t the case for all caterers as compostables are more expensive than other options and displays the immense commitment Caterflix has shown to actively reduce their impact on the environment as a vendor to the Film & TV industry, as well as their meaningful effort to reduce carbon emissions on productions they are engaged on.

Where possible, the Production ensured that all materials were from sustainable sources and that they were also disposed of sustainably. The total emissions associated with Materials were minimal, The production adhered to the following guidelines:

• Departments prioritised renting instead of purchasing new. However, when purchasing was necessary departments prioritised using second-hand and sustainably sourced materials where possible.
• Departments consulted with the Sustainability Advisor to identify options for donating, reselling and repurposing so that materials could have a second life after production.
• No VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) paints, adhesives and sprays were used and toxic materials were avoided.
• The production encouraged digital alternatives to printing and all paper was FSC/EU label.
• Departments consulted with the Sustainability Advisor to identify and source sustainable alternatives.

To a great extent, the biggest takeaway from carbon tracking on this production is that when a crew base efficiently works with and within the limited resources they have, this in turn can have a positive effect on achieving emissions reduction. While it was expected that a microbudget project would have significantly less emissions than a larger budget production, it is interesting to note and observe how Energy & Travel was not the biggest contributor to the production’s emissions but rather Catering & Materials constituted a greater proportion.

This was not due to Catering not implementing a sustainability strategy, in fact emissions associated with catering for the crew size in itself were quite small due to Caterflix adopting the appropriate sustainability measures. The case was that Energy and Travel was significantly reduced as resources were limited so cost effective measures, for example carpooling, were adopted to a greater extent than on other productions with more resources which ultimately had a positive effect on sustainability outcomes.

Following on from this project, Caterflix have now committed to partnering with local communities and charitable organisations on their upcoming projects to donate excess edible food in an effort to reduce emissions and support the local community.

Lastly, the findings on this production also evidence the importance of a sustainability strategy and how budget size plays a key role in what areas/factors need to be prioritised to effectively and meaningfully reduce emissions. While more data would need to be collected on microbudget projects to concretely determine whether it is the case that on average Catering and Materials have a greater carbon footprint than Energy and Travel, Sunphlower has provided really useful data for future projects of a similar size which wish to incorporate sustainability principles and a strategic sustainability plan in a meaningful effort to play their part in reducing emissions in the Film & TV industry.