 All right. So I'm driving the, the presentation here so for those people that are speaking, you can just tell me to move forward I think here is going to kick us off here. Okay, hello everybody, I am sure again, I'm the senior executive director of policy and programs at the New York City Mayor's Office of media and entertainment. One of my things I do in the office is I direct our NYC film green program so for those of you who aren't familiar with our office, we are the agency that supports all the creative industries in New York City. We also are the agency that permits all your location shoot so you probably interacted with our office in some capacity or another. Do you want to advance. So today. Actually do you want to advance to the next slide. This one. This one. Actually never. I don't know. The one that talks about phone green. There we go. Hi all again so film green is a program that our office launched in 2017. It's the first government program of its kind to promote sustainable film production practices. And the goal of the program really is both to recognize those productions that are already taking steps to reduce their environmental impact, and also to create a structure and resource for those who are looking to reduce their impact and have it maybe made it all the way and so we have different categories that you can take in terms of reducing your environmental impact. And as you track those and record what you're doing then you can submit that to our office to get the film green seal to include in your end credits. And we've been working with Earth Angel over the last several months to kind of revamp the program to provide free resources and more incentives for films to reduce their impact. And one of those is to launch these office hours which will focus on different topics and I give you an opportunity to learn about ways specifically to reduce your impact and different topic areas, and also to get your questions answered. And so with that, I will kick it back over. Thank you, Shira. So, I just wanted to just, you know, just elaborate a little bit on what Shira said is that for those of you that are familiar with, you know, the hashtag one and my see this is really aligning a lot with this, this overall program for New York City to reduce plastics but also, you know, it follows very closely with their zero waste program. So that is something that is very important to New York City so we are very happy to, you know, try to promote that through these through the New York City film green program. So, just a little bit of background I know a lot of you here already familiar with a lot of this but you know, when we think about films. We often think about what we see on the screen, but obviously we all know that films have you know the physical production side of it are all these kind of behind the scenes things that we are trying to address in terms of reducing these impacts, and bringing, you know, our carbon prints down so you know this is really what the focus of the New York City film green program is all about. Because as we've seen through some of our own research productions there are we actually right now we have a ton of productions in New York City shooting. And you know really what we've seen from some of the data that we've been collecting is that an average New York City production can have a serious impact. And these are numbers that we have taken from actual data, where we're seeing about 1000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent 250 tons of waste and 64,000 single use water bottles. There's a lot of money seen on just, you know, wasted on inefficiencies so, you know, not only are we trying to really address the environmental impacts but we can also see some cost savings when we're making different choices. Sheer touched on the New York City film green designation program which I encourage you all to check out it's pretty cool program and we have, you know, as as she said updated it so it's, you know, it's it's even more, you know, reflecting what the most recent sustainable production practices that we're seeing out there. The program is actually related loosely with the green production guide so you may be familiar with that. That is a program that is promote sustainable production and is supported by a number of, you know, big studios and other organizations in the film industry. So, the overall focus of the New York City film green program is is on several different areas. So one, you know, we just mentioned is tracking carbon emissions so using the green production guide tool to to track the emissions. So that's all part of the designation waste management so keeping waste out of the landfills by reusing repurposing and recycling materials, and then a big emphasis on fuel and energy use. So trying to reduce the reliance on our fossil fuels by choosing cleaner fuels, renting EVs electric generators and tying in whenever we can. Another big part of it is education and engagement. So, you know, not only through programs like office hours, but also at part of the designation program is sharing best practices and providing these free tools and resources for all productions that are shooting in New York. Sorry, I'm just, I think somebody's trying to get in. I'm not leaving anyone out. Here we go. And then finally sustainable sourcing, where we, you know, we work with productions to source environmentally friendly products and reduce, you know, reduce the amount of tears we're purchasing in the first place. And then at the end of life trying to donate or repurpose them whenever we can. So this month for office hours we chose this theme of going plastic free because this is plastic free July. And if you go to plastic free July.org you will to. There's a there's a whole program there to promote the reduction of plastic use and you can take a pledge and, and it's pretty cool website they have all kinds of information there on reducing plastic pollution so that is one of the big reasons that we. Sorry that we have chosen to to talk about plastics for this month. And now I'm going to go back because I somehow got these out of order to the agenda for today so you know as I just mentioned we're going, we're going to be focusing on how to reduce our plastic use. There will be a focus primarily on craft services and catering because that's where we tend to see the biggest use of the biggest, you know, source of plastics on a film set, especially now that we have, you know, been dealing with the pandemic there's just been this default back to single use plastics which is disappointing because we actually got, you know, pretty far and term at least in terms of single use water bottles and I'm based in Vancouver but you know we were seeing a lot less water single use water bottles plastic water bottles on set but it's it's definitely, they're definitely made a comeback. So we hope to look at some alternatives for for many things but including single use plastic water bottles. And I will introduce all of our wonderful speakers as as we go through the program. So, I just wanted to just give you a quick overview of what we're going to try to cover today. And that is looking first of all at the, this problem of plastic waste, and then also then turning to our speakers to look at some really innovative solutions that are available to all New York City productions. Okay, so the plastic problem, I think we're all pretty familiar with, you know, the problem with plastics it's just way too much and we're way too reliant on plastics and, as we all know, plastics, those plastics are produced, you know, using petroleum and gas products. And so this is a, you know, further contribution to the, the fossil fuel problem in related to global warming and climate change. So, just some statistics here on plastics, at least 8 million tons of metric tons of plastic pollution enters there are oceans every year. So this is equivalent to a garbage truck dumping a garbage truck of plastic into the ocean every minute. So, you know, you can imagine, and you've seen all these awful photos of plastic water bottles in the ocean and plastic water bottles inside, you know, creatures that live in the ocean and creatures out in nature that are, are, are consuming plastics just because they're out there and they, they obviously can't, you know, discern the difference. So they are, are filling their bodies with plastic and it's, it's becoming a huge problem for wildlife. It's also creating greenhouse gases and air pollution as I mentioned, through the production process, killing seabirds and animals. And then they break down into these tiny micro plastics that can really harm the food chain because they get into our soils and they get into our, your water systems. And these micro plastics can release toxins and, and when we burn them so you know this is one kind of solution for dealing with plastics is incinerating them oftentimes they'll capture the energy use but still we are seeing you know toxins that are produced when we burn plastics. And then there's also the micro plastic entering our own bodies and we've seen, you know, in studies that there are micro plastics in, in human placentas in our, in our blood streams and in our, you know, in our unborn babies so plastics really is a global problem that is, you know, completely evading all of all parts of the globe. But here in New York City, you know, we are there in New York City. You know we're really trying to focus in on on this problem and where we can in the industry, and where we can reduce and choose other alternatives as possible. So, that's very brief, very, very brief summary of some of the problems that we see with plastics but I really wanted this program to focus mostly on the solutions, and what we can consider using in our film productions. So, with that, I would like to introduce our first speaker Caroline Vanderlip, the CEO and founder of Redish, which is a company that is offering reusable dishware for all productions to to use for their caring craft. And I will have Caroline talk a little bit more about what what about their about their offerings and how what problems that they're, you know, addressing through their products. Thanks Jennifer appreciate it. We can go to the next slide. I think it's really important for for everybody in the community, and on this on this webinar to also appreciate that when we talk about plastics more often than not we're talking about single use plastics, rather than reusable plastics. They are both made with fossil fuels, I mean there's no difference between them, but the idea of reusability actually sits at the top of the EPA pyramid. And it's this idea that you can manufacture once, and then reuse hundreds if not thousands of times. I think that, you know, and again when we talk about eliminating plastic, it's about eliminating the constant production of plastic in a linear economy where it's manufactured, it's used once, and then it's discarded, and that's the, you know, the problem that your, your slides were much better than mine in terms of problem but I think everybody on this webinar understands that the problem exists. I think what's really important about reusable is that most of the carbon and water that's used in any kind of packaging is actually in the manufacture of that packaging. So regardless of whether it's compostable or the gas or single use or multiple use the idea is that when it's manufactured that's when most of the carbon is released into the environment and to the extent that you can use any of this packaging over and over again, you actually eliminate that manufacturing process. So that's, excuse me, that's what redish is all about. We are a reusable solution, we offer both the product as well as the service to actually track the containers, wash them sterilize them and bring them back to set. So this pyramid picture is a show some of our containers, you know, since we're in a little bit of show and tell, you know, here's another. They come in all sizes. And they're meant to address any need that catering or craft services might have for the delivery of food. If you'd go to the next slide. So we've got six skews right now. As I said to try to address any need. The beauty is that we've actually never had a chef or catering or craft service company say to us that they had or they needed a different product to package their food in that being said we are introducing a polypropylene plate that can be reused thousands of times, as well as some smaller bowls, an eight ounce and a 24 ounce. The important piece about redish is that while we use plastic for a reusable product. It is made in the USA. So we know exactly what the labor conditions and all the formulas are all about. We know that it's BPA and be fast free. We know it's been certified by the National Science Foundation. It actually can be used in a microwave for short periods of time. It can also be frozen. However, the most important piece which goes back to your introduction Jennifer is that when we remove any of these containers from circulation, either because they're soiled or the latches broken or the scratched. We actually grind them down and use them in new containers so there it is a closed loop system in which, if everything's working properly, these containers and their elements will never end up in landfill which I think is what we're all trying to achieve. If you can go to the next slide. So, operationally, not much is different. This is one of redishes, many, many trucks, fans and trucks. And it's really very simple. Instead of using single use whatever material that might be, you actually use the redish containers to package your food. At the end of breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, whatever meal it happens to be, the containers get dropped in a bin that's marked redish. And at the end of the day, they're picked up delivered back to our facility in Brooklyn. They're washed, they're sanitized and they're repackaged and it repeats itself day in and day out. So, from a catering craft perspective. The only difference is that it's a different kind of container and actually one that has gotten very, very high marks from our customers for both the dining experience, as well as the operational ease in which they can be filled, snapshot, retains heat, doesn't leak, all the things that you're really looking for from your food packaging. Jennifer, if you would go to the next one. So redish, the structure of redish is pretty simple. It's one fee for the entire program, which includes inventory on site, use containers collected from the site, all the washing, sanitizing and drying in between. And we can provide bins that are branded to redish to make the connection between the containers and the receptacle, but very honestly we highly recommend that you just use some signage that we've that we give you that just identifies where the, the dirty should go. We provide communication and training materials. We come on set if you will allow us so that we can educate we can do a lunch and learn if there's no time as often there isn't. We can just be there to answer questions and to remind people that these containers do not go into the waste but they actually go into a redish bin. And importantly, we've got a whole software set that supplies real time usage and environmental metrics. So at the end of every day, if you were, if you wanted to see it, you could see that X amount of containers were collected. That translates into a certain amount of carbon reduction water reduction and of course waste reduction. At the end of the, the shoot, we can, you can look at your dashboard and you can look at all the metrics of everything that was used and have very, very clear sense of the carbon reduction and water reduction that you were able to achieve. Next slide. I'm going to just distract. So it's a software program that you would sign into it also it measures not only your environmental metrics, but also measures your inventory. So we start the program by giving you a certain amount of inventory so that you've, you've got it. It can change from I only want inventory for today's meals to I've got a place to store inventory for the week. So give me is, you know, give me a week's worth and we can, you know, we'll use it as the week goes by. We work with you to figure out what your, your needs are and how we can accommodate it. So the dashboard will actually show you at any given point how much is how much inventory has been delivered, how much inventory has been collected, and what the metrics of that collection has been. Next slide. Here's an example. This was a six week shoot shoot last summer that was a show called the players, which happened to appear on Netflix. Over the course of that six weeks, a little over 6000 containers were used that equated to 355 pounds of disposables that were not going to landfill. And just from an EPA equivalency standpoint, you know, equal to 34 cars being taken off the road and a huge amount of water, despite the fact that we're washing these on a day in day out basis, a huge amount of water that's saved from having been used over and one of the questions we get asked a lot is what's the what's the loss, how many containers don't make their way back to the redish facility to be washed. And that's important because there is a small charge, if the containers go missing, but the example from the players shoot was there was about 4% shrinkage so very very small. We expect that what happened is somebody put them in the wrong receptacle or a couple of the crew members took them home, because they are high quality. Obviously we discourage that we ask that the echo coordinator discourage that as well, but we know that we can keep this loss rate orbit, this lawsuit low or this return rate, pretty high. Our clients since last summer have actually been experiencing closer to 9899% return so it becomes less and less a prop of a problem, as people understand what reuse is, and the benefits to the world that we live in. Next slide. So this is just a couple of images from the set of the players. So you can see in the upper left. This was how they prepared the food and made it available to to everybody. You can see in the small middle picture that there was a poly cart with redish branding on it, which is where one through the redish containers. As you can see all the other waste receptacles are very very small, because when you consider the waste that's on a set. That is packaging waste from food service. So if you know that all of that packaging waste is reusable, and that it's actually going into that larger bin, then, then the amount of waste that's going into the others is really minute. So it also depends upon how one is calling waste. It also greatly diminishes waste hauling costs from the set. And you know, the bin that we use on location is not the most aesthetically pleasing bin but it does its job, which is it shows people kind of where the containers should go once they've been used. And so that gives you a flavor of, you know, what it looks like on set. Next slide. So, you know why we dish. First and foremost, because reusable are the most sustainable option in the marketplace. We doubly ensure that those reusable never land in landfill. The implementation itself is turnkey in terms of fast education fast deployment with staff. We supply a lot of support materials, you get to choose which ones you want to use we don't force any of it on you. We just give you all the content that you might need to explain the program. It supports all internal goals, both for New York City for the production for the company behind it as well. And it's a great message. It's a way to reinforce on a day in day out basis that you are sustainable, because it's a reminder every day that you're on set that you are contributing to the sustainability goals, both as an individual and as a community. So happy to take questions. Thank you Caroline that's that's so great I've been wanting to learn more about your company and it's so cool to see this and we've piloted some of these somewhat successfully. But I was thinking, so we do have other alternatives and and green options that we want to talk about so I'm thinking that we might just leave the questions till the end if that's okay with everybody. We left like a quite a good chunk of time at the end for for questions I've already written down some that I have. But if that's okay with everyone else I think we will go to our next speaker to talk about compostable products. So, we also have another partner and another angel partner from eco plant Andrew hard just who will be who will be talking about compostable products. And, and, you know, so there are all these options for for caterers for craft services to think about and you know I don't think there's a really a one size fits all for every production which is why it's nice to have the options about you know the the pros and the cons of all the different things and and what will fit best with your production. So, with that I believe that for Andrew from eco plant to tell us about compostable products and also kind of explaining some of the kind of intricacies with compostable products and and end of life, you know, process in certain areas because, well, I'll let Andrew talk about it but you know we are lucky in New York City that we do have a place that we can actually send our bioplastics so Andrew will touch a little bit more on that. Thank you so much. And thanks, everybody for hosting this event. It's awesome to be a part of, and looking forward to a greener future with everybody here. And to be a part of it is something very special so thank you. I'll give just a brief history of eco play and what we were who we are now and where we want to go, and then kind of go into what we do, how we make it a little bit easier for people to source green products. So we're going to kind of go over the earth angel partnership. And then we can talk a little bit about composting and the, the, the atmosphere of composting here in the city. The pipeline started out as the founder it started out in the living room of my business partners apartment in San Francisco. We, we literally just said hey there's a whole bunch of restaurants out there. There's restaurants hotels, people that serve drinks and food that, you know, they're they're screaming for these paper straws and, and, you know, there's got to be a way that we can find some sort of paper straw product and sell to these guys to both help and, help start a business. And so we ended up purchasing our first pallet of paper straws out of the living room of my business partner and, you know, word started catching on in San Francisco like hey these guys have it these guys have it. And so sure enough that that first pallet turned into two turned into three. And so from a business that started out as as a side hustle in my buddy's living room we now operate out of over eight warehouses across the country. We have an incredible partnership with with earth angel able to help production sets and film shoots, from you know, HBO, all the way to Netflix, Amazon, etc. It's really, you know, I'm very honored to be able to help out these, these types of companies that want to do and make a difference which is really something special. The whole mission behind eco plan is just to really drive through the fluff of greenwashing and you know hey this this wording on this case a product seems a little, you know, odd what does it mean. So instead of just checking the box and saying hey, you know, we have this product do you wonder or not, we dive a little deeper, and we say well, what really is this product made of. What is the customer looking for what are their goals and sustainability, and we can provide those products to those customers so for, you know, that for the earth angel partnership, what we do is, you know, the earth angel says hey I have a production that, you know, they're very interested in cutting out plastic products what can you do for them. We they're, you know, earth angels very skilled and has a ton of knowledge and, you know, in some cases way more than I know on certain on certain things. But I'll either you know have a consultative call with someone or earth angel will drive that train and I will follow their lead in terms of what they want. And it's, it's been as a preferred vendor it's been, you know, it's been a great way for productions to feel comfortable getting into the green space, rather than getting flustered, maybe ordering the wrong thing off Amazon because it's the first thing that pops up. And so it adds that peace of mind knowing that when you deal with someone who knows what they're talking about and sources the right products, and gives you an upfront understanding of what you're spending your your money on out of production. It just really makes things a lot easier so you know from having an account dashboard with the discounted pricing already established for a customer that that's easy because a couple clicks they get what they need they know that it's the right stuff, because earth angel and they've already done the legwork for them, then all they have to do is click click and the product shows up a couple days later. So, as far as, you know, as far as sourcing green products, I think we've kind of taken the guesswork out of it. And then, as far as, you know, people's assumptions of compostable products there are bio plastics there is greenwashing out there. And, and I'm not saying it doesn't exist. But it's helpful knowing that you have someone there that's been doing this for a long time and and can really help you make the right decision because in business when you have to make a call for your team or, you know, you're spending investors money, etc. You know what I don't exactly know exactly how the finance system works in production and film shoots and stuff but when when you have a set budget for a film you need to spend it wisely. And if you're going to pay more for compostable products versus the cheaper plastic stuff, then you need to make sure you're spending that money in the right place. So, we're definitely proud to be a preferred vendor to to, you know, a lot of New York local shoots. And, you know, we're looking forward to the future and, you know, constantly trying to get better and make improvements to help our customers make good decisions. As far as the composting landscape goes in New York, it, you know, I, I can't really beat around the bush it took a big hit because of COVID, where the city needed to make cuts to their budget, which, you know, I completely understand so there was a citywide commercial composting program that was set to be launched about a year and a half ago that did get put on pause. Now that doesn't mean that the commercial organics collection was put on pause. So there's still ways for commercial businesses to schedule collection there's other independent collectors that businesses can use in order to make sure that their organic waste gets taken to the right place. And Jennifer, will you hit the next slide or two slides actually. Sorry, one more slide. Thank you. And this is this is from the DSNY website here, just kind of going into, you know, why come posting makes sense and, and I'll wrap up my last statement about there's still options available the curbside compost was for residential that did get put on pause. I think a lot of the the, the, the green warriors that that, including myself that wanted to see that rolled out were very disappointed that it, it was put on pause. I, I do think that it will come back very soon. But there are still commercial outlets for, you know, compost collection, whereas 99% of my products will be accepted by the commercial composting here in New York City. And then one more slide please Jennifer. Another picture it was another image of the Staten Island composting facility it's one of the largest on the East Coast. It's a company called we care. I sent it to you after I sent you this. Don't worry about it. It was just a picture, don't worry. But if you could imagine a massive multi acre lot with massive heaps of compost right down the street, or across the river in Staten Island. The facility does exist and they are a very high powered commercial composting facility so we can rest assured knowing that when when we do use composting, or sorry compostable disposables, there is a place for them. Am I saying that 100% of compostables go to the compost bin. Absolutely not there's a lot of consumer and end user education that needs to happen but you know I think Earth Angel takes, you know, the, the bulk of that for productions and and really make sure that they have eco PAs on set making sure that the, the waste is going to the right place right with the with the landfill bag where stuff that absolutely cannot be recycled or composted goes into the recycling goes into the clear bags and the and the organic waste goes into the to the green bags. So that really solves so much of your issues when you deal with the end of life cycle for products that I supply. And so, as far as you know productions on set when reusable is is just absolutely not an option there's a perfectly fine option in disposables. It's not a single use but given that they're put in the right bin and taken to the right place they're perfectly. They're perfectly compostable and and come from a plant based source rather than a petroleum based source. And then one quick note because I know everyone everyone assumes that compostables are just inherently more expensive. And that is true to an extent but due to global economic and political forces there's been massive increases in prices to petroleum based plastics like polypropylene and PET. And so the playing field has really never never been more level to switch to these products, because they aren't. They don't get dinged by those price increases, which, you know, we're favorable for, you know, as far as keeping our prices low we're always trying to be the most affordable option out there so. There's a long winded presentation there but I hope it kind of peeled back some layers over you know what he compliant does and how we're able to help productions become more sustainable. And single use doesn't always have to be a bad word if you're using the right products. So that's that. Thank you Andrew. Yeah, I mean I just have to say, especially when the, when the pandemic started me started getting all these guidelines from you know amp TTP and all the different organizations for the work safe organizations. Everybody was like we got to go to single use we got to go to single use. Now we know that, you know, it's, it's, it's the coven, you know, virus is much more. transmittable through aerosols and through the air that we breathe. And so, you know, I think we're seeing a little bit of a shift back towards reusable but I think people still like psychologically I think single use is still considered safer in some people's minds so what we we've been so, you know, lucky to have a partner like you because if we are going to go with single use, then we definitely want to use something like eco plant materials because they are 100% compostable and, you know, and it's nice to know that we can just kind of like put everything in that compost bin and in a place like New York they will actually be processed you know at the at the proper facility. You know and a facility that is available in that region so yeah so that's great. And again, let's let's table question because I do I do have a few. I know other people probably have some some great questions as well but I didn't want to talk to our third speaker Josh, Elliot from Manlunalu and Josh will be talking a little bit about something a little different still kind of the single use train, but you know, again, because there has been such, you know, people are opting more for the single use in, in, especially in the times of pandemic. Right now myself, but you know we are are looking at alternative alternatives to single use plastic water bottles. Instead of the reusable because again people are kind of a little bit skeptical still. So, we have been lucky to partner with Manlunalu as well, who offer an aluminum canned option. I want to talk more about the benefits aluminum over single use plastics. Thanks Jennifer. Yeah excited to be here thank you for the opportunity to present to the group and be a part of this. So, you know this slide we always like to kick this off or kick presentations off with a slide because I think it does a great job of communicating sort of the lifestyle and brand of Manlunalu. As you can see down here we have a couple different pictures whether it be production sets or you know coastal photos from Hawaii or otherwise. But as Jennifer said we're you know simply put aluminum water or water package and aluminum cans and you can see up there in the left hand corner that's our 16 ounce flagship bottle it's a screw top resealable bottle. But you know the one thing I just want to note on the slide is, we view ourselves as much more than just a, even an alternative to plastic. And I'll speak a little bit more about that here in a second so you can, you can advance over to the next slide. So we're founded by this guy. I'm assuming everyone in this group is probably familiar with Jason Momoa. He's an actor activist. You know he was just named the UNEP ambassador or advocate for life underwater or below water which is essentially advocating for our oceans and everything that lives, including us per the health of the ocean. And then he was also when founding the company started the company with a group called ball corporation. And many of you may know ball corporation from the glass jars that say ball on them. That's how I originally understood what ball was, but ball sense the inception of sort of the glass jars have really focus their efforts into the space of aluminum packaging so ball corporation is a global leader and aluminum packaging they package, they create everything from cans to airplanes, you know using aluminum. And so they bring a huge level of wisdom and innovation into production of our product and others, as well as a lot of knowledge and experience and recycling infrastructure. And you can jump to the next slide as well. So Mananalu. I don't know if everybody's trying right now to like remember how to pronounce it can be a bit of a tongue twister but I do want to speak to sort of the name and what it means, because it really ties into our mission that you can see here which is to eliminate single plastic water bottles you know we're, we're after getting rid of all 64,000 of those plastic bottles that are used throughout NYC and films. And so the name is actually to Hawaiian words. Mana means sacred spirit of life, and then Nalu means an unstoppable wave that is pushing across the ocean. And so you know we really like to tie that to our mission as I mentioned you know this shift this wave if you will has started it's coming people consumers companies organizations are choosing to make this shift right and so we very much feel that we are a party rider on this wave it's it's definitely a big enough way for many companies like eco plant and redish and others to join and we need everybody, obviously to make the shift. But in terms of our name and the Genesis that's really sort of at the heart of what we do and what we're after. I'll also note really quick up at the top you see these different logos. Sorry and I've got my assistant here who just got stunned by the sorry about that. We are infinitely recyclable so aluminum, you know speaking to Jennifer's note on why aluminum, you know aluminum packaging is great because there is a value post use so most waste collectors. This is one of the only materials that they collect that they can actually make a profit on and run their waste collection systems. So aluminum is a highly sought after material not only for its value but also because it can be recycled and reused infinitely. The best, I think statistic to note here is you throw a bottle of Mananalu and the recycling bin it's back on the shelf within about 60 days. Back on the shelf as a new product that next logo you see there certified plastic negative product. I'll speak to this in the next slide but this is a certification that Mananalu has alone in the water space. But again I'll save that into the next slide, but I also want to know we're climate neutral. So that means that we offset all of our carbon emissions, everything from production of our bottles to filling our bottles to transporting it to our warehouses and then all the way to our partners like productions. So all the emissions that are created in that process we take on and offset at the end of the year through our partnership with climate neutral. And then you'll see 1% for the planet there. This is a group of companies and nonprofits. Many of you may be familiar with it. But essentially what we do as a company, every year is reserve 1% of our gross profits to put towards environmental initiatives. We're actually directly tied to our plastic negative certification that you see as well there as well. And in this network we work with a nonprofit called repurpose global. The last note that you'll see there is B Corp certification, we are pending our B Corp certification so we've done all the legwork it takes to to propose to be a B Corp. We're just waiting on our final paper to become a certified. We'll go to the next slide please. So I want to speak to the certified plastic negative piece because this is really what sets us apart as a company. So, like I said we're more than just an alternative to plastic. And this comes down to our commitment that we call drink one, remove one. So for every bottle of mononalo that we sell, we will commit to funding the removal of one additional plastic bottle from ocean going waste. So, what that means is, you know, if all NYC films chose to bring in mononalo as opposed to plastic bottles, that would be 64,000 plastic bottles averted from the ocean, correct. But we would commit to funding the removal of an additional 64,000 plastic bottles from ocean going waste, bringing sort of that net impact to 128,000 plastic bottles being saved from ocean going waste. So you know this is certainly not greenwashing we work with a group called repurpose global as I mentioned, who works extensively in areas like India, Indonesia, East and West Africa as well as parts of South America to do this work. And the reason they work in those places is, unfortunately that's where a lot of our plastic waste is shipped off to. We say, you know it goes in the recycling bin but unfortunately it goes to these developing nations to deal with. Repurpose global is the group that we work with to actively go out and remove plastic from the environment. So you know it's not only something that sets us apart from other eco friendly options, but you know it also becomes a great way to show impact of your production. Because you can say for every bottle that you go through you're also removing an additional bottle of plastic. So you can jump to the next slide Jennifer as well. This is just a slide to show sort of how we stack up, you know not only against plastic but other eco friendly options. You know as you can see here, we're infinitely recyclable being an aluminum, there are other aluminum options out there. And I will say, you know we certainly want everyone to choose anything but a single use plastic bottle option because we know that it's going to go right into the landfill or into our oceans. But we do feel that we are the leader in the space. We are resealable. So you know I'm sure on production sites, folks are moving around quite a bit. And so you need to reseal it and maybe throw it in a bag and be able to reuse it so I think it fits very well with your options. And then the last thing I would say is, you know, we're the only ones that remove plastic. So again, we set ourselves apart from other organizations. And then the last slide I believe here Jennifer is our product portfolio see we have a 22 ounce, we have a pure and the 16 ounce, as well as 16 ounce flavors available. And then we also have some 12 ounce sleek options and standard options as well. So, you know, depending on your need, we have quite a few options for folks to look at. So I'll stop there and wait till the end if there's any questions but happy to answer when we get there. Well thanks so much. I didn't realize you guys had all these these different flavored waters that's pretty cool. And I'm astonished at how calm your son is after being stung by be I'd be screaming my head off. But yeah, thank you so much for that. We have been partnering with Mananalu for a while and it's it's everybody loves your product that, you know, on the shows that we have been, you know, that are choosing to go with aluminum water bottles so that's great. And we did have and I don't think he's here. Javier are you here. Javier Rojas, the owner of New York crafty who was hoping would be here to talk about how because he have years somebody that we've worked with on many productions in New York City. I don't know if I think Natalie I saw you here. You know, and I don't know if you've worked with Javier on the productions that you've been working with this year. But, you know, he's, we kind of can consider Javier to be sort of more of a green, a greener craft services he's very consciously making choices like using aluminum water bottles and compost bowls like don't think we've done redish yet but we will be definitely looking at that. So when we work with him on another show. But I really wanted him to be here to kind of talk about really what a production has to think about when they're making these kinds of choices because as you know as we mentioned in the beginning, I think. A lot of times it's it, you know, people want to do that they want to do the greener option they want to choose the greener option but they're limited by, you know, usually cost, or you know some sort of logistics. And so, you know, we're not always able to do everything that we want to do. But you know it's good to know that we have, you know, we have, we do have a lot of options out there, these are, you know, only some of the, some of the wonderful companies that we are able to work with but I'm going to open it up now though force any questions. And you can go ahead and just unmute or raise your hand or put it in the chat. And I'm happy to kind of field some of these questions. And if nobody else has any I have, I have a couple of myself. So I just, I just wanted to start with Caroline. With redish. So we successfully piloted a reusable dish program not your wonderful company but another company here in Vancouver. And it was only because the production manager or the producer actually really wanted to do it. She's like, we're doing this and they literally went out and bought like two industrial washers and had. I think it was the eco piece running back and forth from, you know, from the set to the wherever the dishwashers where I think they were at the studio. So how is redish have you done any work with the productions using your, your product on location. And how has that been. Sure. So the example that I showed of the players was actually on location. They went to a different location in New York City every single day of the six week shoot. So the location for us is no different than being in a studio. It adds a little more complexity to where we deliver the containers to, but oftentimes we find that the caterer or the craft services company wants them delivered to them. And then, you know, pick up is arranged differently. So the logistics are production by production. So we have not had any issues with finding a solution that works for the productions that we're working with. So if you think about, you know, that crazy. I'm sorry, but you know somebody who buys industrial dishwashers to first onset is like, you know, above and beyond. We obviously have a very significant capacity and state of the art facility. We use custom made machinery and software to drive the capacity of over 100,000 units a day. So we have lots of capacity to be able to address, you know, multiple clients multiple sets at any given time. Right. And then you guys want to utensils to you. So we don't offer compostable, I'm sorry, reusable utensils, because they look like plastic, and they inevitably get lost. So we actually will wash stainless steel. So we have a number of clients for whom we wash their stainless as well, we can provide the same stainless in a similar model to read dish. If the production wants us to. So there are lots of options there although the main products, you know, are the containers themselves. Yeah, we can actually wash anything that is washable off the set, right. So I just wanted to emphasize that we actually supply these containers because we've vetted them and they're certified for over 1000 washes and you know NSF certified etc. But if, and I'm going to make it up here for set decided that they wanted to use glass or they wanted to use that's a bad example because who would want to use glass on set but you know in other words anything that can be rewashed, we can take to our facility and bring it back sparkling clean. That's great. And then, and that includes so I was just wondering because I saw the bins. So people can put those compostable things. pieces in there but even if they have food. It just gets washed out or do. I mean, I mean, I can't be rewashed. I mean, sorry, the redish the reusable. And the question again. Yeah, so I was just wondering. Do you get a lot of food waste inside the reusable container thing. We get a we get a lot of things and food waste is just one of them. And we have a whole ecosystem in our facility so that we actually will, you know, take the food waste and make sure that it is composted. If there's any other napkins, they're a big one, sometimes get put into the into the containers so we'll separate those as well. So we highly recommend and ask people to kind of dump everything into another bin. But if they don't, we, you know, we arrange to deliver to the right places in our own facility. That's great. And then, just going back to the dish track I think that's a pretty cool reporting tool. And, you know, what I really like about it as well, especially for the New York City production is that, you know, one of the main things that we are trying to support through that production program is actually your, your tracking right so, you know, beyond tracking carbon emissions. It's nice to be able to include all of these different, you know, reports from things like, you know, that we're sourcing, and we're using to include in that reporting part piece of it it's always nice for us like if we're working with any manufacturer or whatever, if we can actually get, you know, diversion reports or other reporting from them because it actually that whole tracking piece of it is really key to be able to look at performance and try to, you know, change the way we're doing things based on, you know, real numbers. So, you know, Jennifer, we're an absolute agreement. It also acts as reinforcement to the behavior so we think of redish and reusable bowls within kind of these institutional settings, meaning, you know, in these closed communities, as a way to change the concept of reusability to what are fundamentally consumers acting in their capacity as workers right. And, you know, it's our belief that, you know, as we all know consumer behavior doesn't change quickly it's very incremental, and it's so much easier to alter your behavior slightly within the context of a community that promotes it, and the metrics further support that. So, you know, our belief is that, you know, we're helping to establish reuse in general, you know, within consumer behavior so that over time, it will become much more natural and the question will be not as reused but the question will be still how do I reuse this. And we think fundamentally that's the only way that you address those horrific slides that you showed at the beginning of this presentation. Yeah. Yeah, I can relate to that we, we often call what we do sustainable production but like our goal is to someday just call it production. Exactly. Yeah, so just you had mentioned before and so this is a question going back to Andrew. You know you're kind of avoiding those emissions from manufacturer which I think is huge because a lot of times we don't think of that but so Andrew, can you tell us a little bit about the manufacturing process for for eco plant materials. Yeah, it's a little different depending on what material it is. I could start with the fiber based materials, which basically up cycles waste from the sugar cane industry. It's, it's called bagasse which is just a fancy word for ground up sugar cane reads. This is a plethora of sugar and sugar cane over in Southeast Asia. And so whereas before they used to just throw it away or, you know, put it in a landfill, they actually upcycle it, grind it up into a slurry, subjected to heat and pressure and turn it into the shapes and sizes that you see so obviously there's a little bit more nuance to it but the high level, the high level look of how the fiber based products are created as they take what used to be a throw away product they grind it up in a big vat you know, water and and other, you know, materials to make it into a slurry, and then they basically just heat stamp it with a big mold press out into the plates bowls and containers that we use every day. Yeah, and something nice, another thing about the fiber products to just, you know, to to talk about the use part of it. Especially during coven when it first started and we're like, oh, single use everything. We, we did on one show that I worked on, because we were kind of nervous about everything kind of like falling back to these the plastic options so we're like how can we avoid that right. So what we did is we took, you know, we met with catering craft in the beginning, and we, we like decided on all the products right so it was like the fiber, most of the commercial fiber utensils and products. And then, now, what happened was instead of the the face style because of health and safety and everything was like individual package meals. We worked with with both you know catering and crafted to find a packaging that was paper. So, you know, so the meals went in the composable items in the paper bag with the composable utensils and then when when you're when we were done with you know meal service, every single piece of that meal went into the compost. So, you know, in that way we were like avoiding any kind of waste and and the compost stream was like pretty clean because it was just all fiber based products. And maybe we can tease this out a little bit here as you mentioned it kind of earlier is there is there is a thing with bio plastics right so these are the composable plastics that are made from, you know, waste plant based waste. So sometimes in some regions, as we were mentioning, they don't actually have the facilities to break them down because what is required for bio plastics to be composted is very, very high heat which, you know, a lot of the facilities are not able to to have that process available so in those cases, you know what would happen was that we would be putting them in the landfill, right show me crazy, because it was like, why are we paying more for for these products. Why are we paying more for these products. I do not stir them on. But then throwing them in the landfill. It drives me crazy. Yeah, it's it's like the, there's no silver bullet question or what is the silver bullet question and there isn't one yet. And there are new materials out there that are compostable in landfill I've had tons of discussions with earth angel folks about them. So the science is definitely catching up. But at the same time, just because there isn't a silver bullet doesn't mean that a cup made from corn isn't better than a cup made from digging oil out of the ground. Yeah. That's kind of my short answer there for you're right there are instances where PLA it, you know, there are some companies that recycle PLA but broadly it's not recyclable so a big issue is people will unknowingly assume something that looks and feels just like plastic is recyclable. When in fact it's not and those PLA products go into recycling, and then that that that number that we all hate 9% of stuff that goes into the recycling stream, only 9% of it gets recycled. You know that PLA can actually push that number even lower because companies that do recycle need to toss it out once it gets through the processing machines. But as far as the question about do bioplastics take longer to biodegrade and compost, and the answer is yes but the process of composting actually screens out a lot of these larger objects and keeps them in the compost pile for longer. When they take the usable sellable compost, they sell it to the farmers and agriculture businesses that buy it. And also, you know, the city of New York who uses compost in their gardens and green spaces. And those larger objects, it could be a bioplastic cup, like you know your regular 12 ounce PLA cup, or it could be a wooden log that was just too big to break down in 30 days, and they sit side by side and they you know they, they are still breaking down a little bit longer. So, you know, a lot of people maybe rush and say, Whoa, this didn't break down in 30 days it's going to cause all all types of havoc for these composters. But it, you know, depending on who you ask, you know, was that composter doing it in their backyard or was that composter in industrial commercial composter like the one, like we care on Staten Island. There's certification companies out there that aren't BPI, which is BPI biodegradable products Institute is a stamp of approval, whereas CMA the composters manufacturing Alliance actually field test the products themselves. There's certification preference for that we care composting facility because they know that CMA is actually going to field test the products that I sell in those compost piles making sure that they break down and CMA tells me that the I love PLA and bioplastics because it really does exactly what it says it's going to do. The problem and the break is that companies will mix PLA, you know, bad actors overseas that aren't doing you know due diligence, they're mixing PLA with other stuff like, you know, petroleum based plastics polypropylene. There's also companies that will say oh these are made from agave when really it's a bio composite not a biopolymer a bio composite means that they mix two different substrates together, but they make one solution there to their state remain separate that's like those agave straws where they say they're made from agave. They're actually just agave fiber and polypropylene plastic, and they made up a word called bio fading that is a little bit of a greenwashing term because they literally made it up. So it's those types of things that we kind of look at and we say alright let's let's take a look at this product and figure out exactly what is in it and exactly what it is. Yeah, there's no silver bullet, but we're getting closer and closer the science is really really impressive it's just is something commercially viable or not. Time will tell and investment and and you know production customers and and alike are you know you guys investing the money into those types of products whether new or proven is really helping us push through and make it commercially viable for everyone. Yeah, yeah, I agree. It always seems like you know we all we always come fees like really great ideas for something but then like, you know, it's not silver bullet like there's always something wrong with that solution to so. Right. Yeah, so this is you know we do our best. And what I really like about you know these these companies like you guys have are, you know, you you when you talk about your product or you talk about your service. You can tell that it's really thought through like every, I think every single person that we've talked here to here today has really talked not just about the service or the product but the thought process in, you know, you know, the supply chain like where is the where the materials coming from like how you know what happens at the end of life you know I think the the repurpose global. Plastic negative thing is pretty cool I actually didn't know that. So I think that's something we need to be telling all of our productions as well because you know that's one thing. I think, you know, what we're still looking at with a lot of the green products are, you know, a little bit of a premium. Right. I mean there's there's obviously a lot more that goes into being so thoughtful about manufacturing and, and you know, getting be corp certified and and having all these other things that a lot of other manufacturers to just, they just don't do right. And this is why we, we are trying to find vendors out there that that have thought about these things, and we can actually, you know, promote their, their products and their way of, of operating to our productions so that they don't really have to think about it because I think that's really the whole purpose of the New York City film green program is really to kind of take that burden of, of trying to find all the options and, and putting them all in one space with tools resources, you know, and then even having a framework of like how to run your production, you know, and a big part of it is really looking at what kind of vendors, your, your sourcing your, your products and your services from. I have an example sorry of a breakthrough innovation with bio with bio plastics. There's a material called PHA and that's compared to PLA. It's whereas PLA was kind of outsourced to overseas manufacturers because it was cheaper to do so, PHA has really the, the inventor of it has kept it in the states for the most part. Now the unique thing with PHA versus PLA is that PHA will break down in landfill because it does not need oxygen to break down. It has micro when subject to microorganisms that are plentiful in, you know, all over the globe. It actually, those microorganisms are able to basically eat it and process it out as you know biomass CO2 and water. So those are the types of innovations that are, they are available we have a straw brand made from PHA. So, you know, everyone says, Oh, well, they're compostable straws, but they end up going into the landfill anyway. Well, that's okay now, because if they were to go to the landfill, a straw is so small that it wouldn't take that long for that straw to break down. I have them in my plant pot in my apartment here in New York, and everything below the soil is gone, which I'm like, Okay, this is pretty cool. I believe it. So those are the types of things that I'm seeing that are very exciting. And I know that, you know, it's there's no silver bullet, but we are getting there and making progress, which is really exciting. Yeah. Well, that's super cool. So you're doing your you're doing your own compost testing in your apartment in New York. Yeah, no, PHA that's that's awesome. And I, you know, are we going to be seeing more products with PHA beyond the straws. Yeah, so right now the straws is really the biggest. It's kind of like the low hanging fruit so to speak. And I mean that industry wide I'm not just saying me. But this material is able to be, it's able to be blown into bags it's able to be extruded into straws it's able to be injection molded into cups lids containers everything so it's just the infrastructure of the material the manufacturing process is the distribution of it from, you know, from the economic and business side of things it's just it's so new and and nascent that it there's still some time and some investment that needs to happen for it to catch up. Whereas PLA is kind of like the incumbent PHA is coming fast to to unseat it in the right direction. Cool, PHA. Okay, well definitely look out for that. Well so that kind of, you know, talking about these raw materials. Josh I wanted to ask you what we've kind of heard through the, you know, grapevine here is is the cost of aluminum rising. Can you just speak to that a little bit and and and how is that affecting, you know, your company and possibly, you know, the, the greater availability of aluminum products, specifically I guess water bottles. Thanks for the question. Yeah, the, the aluminum costs, you know, there's always a premium on aluminum burst plastic, obviously I think you mentioned, you know, eco friendly options hopefully in the long run will even out but there's always been a premium and I think one thing I want to note between aluminum and specifically plastic is there's been a lot of research into, you know, the cost of buying plastic is actually being passed on. So the, you know, you buy one plastic bottle for 23 cents is typically what it costs. The net environmental impact of that is like over $8 in terms of the impact that it has on the environment in a negative sense, clean up, you know, waste, etc. So, you know, I don't think there's a day that ever aluminum will get exactly to that that cost premium but you know I think currently given the state of geopolitical problems going on in Eastern Ukraine and Russia and everything going on in Europe, there certainly is increases being experienced right now. You know, for us as a company having ball aluminum as a part owner in Mananalu. I would say that we're not experiencing any supply issues, because we are able to access aluminum through our, our partnership with them. So the cost, it is a definitely increased. And I think it's partly due to the conflict that we're experiencing and some of those Eastern European producers have, you know, essentially closed shop. But a big part of it, you know, even before the conflict is the consumer behavior around recycling. So the impact of changing consumer behavior to recycle more aluminum actually has some very impactful follow on impacts not only with cost but also carbon emissions as well. So if we're able to I think the average recycling rate right now of aluminum is around 40% of all aluminum products that are out there. And that makes it so that you know our products on the shelf have roughly 69% recycled aluminum in the product itself. And, you know, that's the highest amount of recycled aluminum we'll see on any beverage that you go to the grocery store and look at beer Coke, etc. A big part of solving that problem of price as well as getting that recycled content and our products to 100% is, you know, changing consumer behavior and ensuring that everyone knows that they should throw it in the recycling bin. So, you know, our partners at ball are moving a lot of their investments over the next 10 years into recycling infrastructure and ensuring that there's not only more recycled aluminum available in the production stream of aluminum but also that the facilities are in place in the US to do that. So it's, it's certainly an ongoing challenge but I would say, you know, as modern as a brand in the short term, we're going to have product available and I think our prices will remain competitive. But I think between policy and legislation, you know our ownership with ball and the infrastructure of recycling, and then also consumers deciding to make that choice, I think we can continue to maintain and meet the the demand that is coming in because the demand for aluminum is only increasing as well. Oh, Jennifer, I think you're still on your unmute Jennifer. I do that like every day. No, I was just saying that's that's great that you know your partnership with balls allowing you for the to have the, you know, constant supply because we have, we have heard about that and in other areas with other companies so good to know. So I think the slide before, Josh about, you know, kind of comparing plastic to aluminum other aluminum options but one thing they always get asked about is box water. And I didn't see that on your on your slide there but I don't know if you, you know, you know, in terms of comparison if you can comment on that. I, you know, I think one of the mention in terms of that how we stack up slide yeah we don't have a box water it's funny you mentioned that actually requested we add that as a comparison because it is a really consistent competitor for us. I want to first say any option other than plastic in my opinion is a is a good option so whether it's box water other aluminum brands. You know, as Andrew and others have mentioned there's the science is catching up so you know at the end of the day we want to get rid of single use plastic, and we know we can only play but so much of a role. I always say you know when you go into a retailer and you see that plastic shelf. You know we don't want that whole thing to be mononado we want it to be more eco friendly brands and less and less plastic so the more the merrier as long as it's not plastic. But I would say in terms of box water, you know the things that I've both anecdotally and from research understood about that option is it is better from plastic as an option. I do think there's some bioplastics in box water. So you do run up against the challenge of recycling. I think it's important to sort of note that you know aluminum is the most recycled material in the waste stream. Like I mentioned because of its value. There are certainly plastics that are recycled and there are facilities that can recycle what they call tetrapac boxes or boxed water. But unfortunately, there's far fewer recycling facilities that have the infrastructure to actually recycle that material and that that unit itself. So, you know, although it's a better option than plastic I would say, you know from a consumer behavior side, you're not going to see the recycling and reuse rates from tetrapac that you will see with aluminum. But, you know it is it is an improvement on plastic but I would say that you know the, the recycling infrastructure has to catch up to be able to make that a better option in the long run. Yeah. I mean I think, and it does this does this goes for technologies and best practices that we are talking about every day with productions. And it's kind of frustrating because what we see is, you know, we hear about all this cool stuff we read about it, you know and, and we can maybe try it out sometimes but a lot of times, it's not available. And so it I feel like, you know, the intent is there and a lot of times, you know, people are completely ready to go but there's, there's not always, you know, it's not always an option. So, but I think, you know, the vendors that we've talked to today have, you know, really put so much thought into their products and their services. And, you know, from from an earth angel standpoint I'd have to say that, you know, from a from a waste hierarchy point of view right reusable is really what we try to go for all the time if possible. But again, you know, I don't think single use is going to be disappearing anytime soon. I think that the pandemic and the COVID, you know, virus have really pushed people towards that mindset of, you know, it's safer, though there has been a lot of you know studies by the CDC and the FDA that show that have said that there's no, you know, you're not better off from a safety standpoint with with single use. But again, you know that's that's something that is a production by production basis. And so, you know, this is this is why we hope that these, these discussions will be helpful for productions and people that are making decisions. So half of productions, in terms of sustainability have the information, you know, they're armed with this information and can rely on it when they're making their, their decisions. So, you know, and it's not always one thing for every, you know, for every production I mean you can maybe do a redish option, you know, in one location and then a composable and the other because it works out better because you're, you know, hundreds of miles away or you're up a mountain which we, you know, I've worked on several productions that are so remote that things like composting and, you know, they just that wasn't an option for us at all because they're, you know, we're literally on top of them. So, yeah, so, you know, every production will will have different factors in terms of what they can do and what they're able to do what they can afford to do. So it's always nice to have all of the, you know, the options here available. So I just wanted to open it up for anybody else I've been speaking this whole time. I had all my questions answered but I wondered if anybody else here had any other questions for for our wonderful speakers. Okay. Thank you so much. I think that we can, you know, and early here if you guys have any closing remarks, we'd love to to hear from you. I think you've done a great job. Thank you for having us. Thank you for kind of introducing on our on our part the whole concept of reusable and how it can work in this environment. Thank you to work with you and, and all the others, hopefully that are on this, who will see this at some point if not tonight. Thank you very much. I know given that you have covered this, this could not have been easy for you to moderate and you've done a great job. Thank you. It's a lot better today. But yeah, so thank you all. I just wanted to remind everybody if if I we had a bunch more people signed up to come so if any of those are your colleagues your peers, or you have anybody else that might be interested in viewing the recording. This will be on the NYC Film Green website and along with all the other tools that we will be talking about the next August office hours we will be talking about clean energy on set and how we can reduce our, you know, our use of fossil fuels on location with vehicles, etc. So I hope that you can join us for the next office hours which will be a morning session 9 to 11 Eastern time on August 9. So, with that, Shira, did you have any other closing remarks. Hi everybody and thank you Jennifer again Jennifer, the weather's you did a great job and thank you to all of our panelists for sharing your expertise with us. We actually don't have the capacity to put the video up on our website but we will be putting up on our YouTube channel on the mayor's YouTube channel and for everyone who registered will send a follow up email to that recording. And if there's any other questions that occurred to you, you can feel free to send those to us and we will do our best to get responses and hopefully we'll see you guys in August night. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity. Thank you everyone. Thank you, Jennifer. Great job.