Earth Angel Helps Movie, TV Productions Reduce On-set Waste

Earth Angel, a Brooklyn-based startup, is helping movie and television productions reduce on-set waste by offering waste management and sustainable-sourcing services and environmental impact reports.

Since launching in 2013, the startup has worked on the sets of commercials, TV series and 13 feature films and has diverted 3,000 tons of waste from landfills, donated 90 tons of material to local charities, donated 55,000 meals to shelters and food banks, avoided more than a million single-use plastic water bottles and prevented 6,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Inc. has more details:

In 2011, while the rest of the movie crew was busy with setting up the day's shoot, 29-year-old Emellie O'Brien was busy digging through the garbage. As she was separating the recyclables from the compost items, another crew member came over and asked what she was doing. "This is my job," she said. "I'm here to oversee the show's environmental impact."

The other crew member had never heard of such a thing. "You must be some kind of earth angel," he said.

The movie never saw the light of day, but the name stuck. In 2013, O'Brien started Brooklyn-based Earth Angel, a company that helps ensure that movie and television productions are green by offering waste-management and sustainable-sourcing services, as well as environmental impact reports. O'Brien claims that productions that use her services can save from $60,000 to $100,000 on waste reduction. Earth Angel has worked on the sets of commercials, televisions series, and 13 feature films--including movies like Black Panther, The Post, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Ghostbusters.

Read the full story here.