The Chicago film industry is working toward sustainability
Film and television production can be a significant pollutant, but companies like Ecofixr are setting greener standards locally.
From The Bear to The Blues Brothers, Chicago is an entertainment industry town that generates an annual $700 million in economic impact across 50 wards and sustains approximately 20,000 jobs. But along with the success of jobs, money, and production comes a heaping amount of environmental waste.
For people not fine-tuned to the entertainment world, it may not seem like an obvious culprit. But the film industry in Los Angeles, for example, has a greater impact on pollution in the city than aerospace manufacturing, clothing production, or the hotel industry.
On average, movie sets generate 72 tons of food waste, often including large amounts of plastic just from water bottle usage. Then, there’s chemical waste from developing film and energy consumption from lighting. Planes and transportation taken by crew members and actors all contribute to a large carbon footprint, according to a 2006 study at the University of California, Los Angeles. The list goes on.
However, in recent years, there’s been an uptick in people taking charge of creating zero-waste sets, with Hollywood films like The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) and Girls Trip (2017) ensuring sustainable production. The Spider-Man film documented its work on X (formerly Twitter) under the handle @EcoSpidey. The filmmakers ultimately won the Green Seal award from the Environmental Media Association for their efforts. And Girls Trip diverted 600 pounds of catering food from their set to feed 500 homeless people in New Orleans.