 Good evening and welcome to NYC Film Green Office Hours. My name is Shira Ganz from the New York City Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment. For those of you not familiar with us, we're the city agency that supports all the creative sectors in New York City. We're also the agency that permits. I'm so sorry I have a bird in case people are wondering. Anyway, we're also the agency that permits on location. We're the agency that provides film production in New York City. So Film Green is a program that we created and we're here to create a blueprint for sustainable film production. To create free resources like our webinar tonight and to help build out infrastructure in the city to support sustainable film production. I'm really excited about our topic tonight, sustainable food on set. And I'm excited to have all of our really well versed speakers tonight so big thanks to them for joining us. Thank you to all of you, and thanks to Earth Angel as always for helping us make these such a great discussion. See you all later. Oh, thank you, Shira for that lovely welcome. Hello and welcome to yet another episode of NYC Film Green Office Hours. I'm Anna Laura and I'm the education and special programs manager at Earth Angel, a sustainable production consultancy, helping to reduce the environmental impact of film and television production. Thank you to mom and to everyone here for joining us today to discuss sustainable food on set. Please feel free to enter all of your questions in the chat. We will get to them during the Q&A portion of the panel. All right, let's get started. So in tackling the climate crisis, establishing sustainable food systems is critical. A sustainable food system promotes food and nutrition security for all ensuring a viable system for future generations. We know that in order to tackle the climate crisis, we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen, and our food systems play a big part in this. This means rethinking how we produce, source, consume, and dispose of food. Roughly one third of the food produced that is intended for human consumption every year, amounting to around 1.3 billion tons and valued at one trillion US dollars is wasted or lost. That's enough food to feed 3 billion people, and it accounts for an estimated 170 million metric tons of carbon emissions. This is equal to about 42 coal fired power plants. That might not relate with you much, but if food loss and waste were its own country, it would be the world's third largest greenhouse gas emitter. This is because food that is sent to landfill becomes compacted tightly, deprived of oxygen, which is needed to properly break down food molecules. And as a result, it breaks down via anaerobic digestion, which releases methane. This is a gas that is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The film and television industry, it's a large one and has wide ranging environmental impacts across its systems, including when it comes to providing food for its crews. Since Earth Angels started in 2013, we've donated leftover food from production equal to about 241,000 meals to local food banks and people in need. In 2022 alone, we donated over 45,000 meals. Sustainable choices regarding food can significantly reduce the industry's carbon footprint and its food costs. We have a responsibility to reduce our impact. And with increasing knowledge and awareness, we now have the resources to make environmentally conscious decisions in the type of meals that we provide. The ingredients we source, how we choose to handle vast amounts of leftover food, and how we choose to dispose of food waste. So we have a fantastic panel here for you today with individuals who are making huge moves in this space. So from Hannah Brothers, Hannah Brothers has been providing premium catering to film and television productions since 1997, and has worked with over 200 productions in a wide variety of locations worldwide. As a director of sales and marketing for Hannah Brothers, Sharon Turner has helped grow several areas of the company and has taken corporate catering to a new level. Hannah Brothers is a sustainable food establishment focused on minimizing their environmental impact by prioritizing locally sourced and seasonal ingredients, minimizing food waste and offering plant-based and vegetarian options and minimalist packaging. Sharon is excited about the future of Hannah Brothers and is thrilled to be part of its success. Hannah Chai is an Emmy Award-winning director and showrunner based in New York. She's known for her work on the Emmy and James Beard Award-winning series The Mind of a Chef, her PBS, and the recent Apple TV Plus documentary series, Betsy, hosted by Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton. Her documentary feature, Wasted, the Story of Food Waste, was executive produced by the late Anthony Bourdain and is currently streaming on Hulu. I remind you all to watch it. DK Kinard is a garden coordinator and a co-founding member of the gardens at NYCHA program with Grow NYC. DK curates and builds green spaces, urban agriculture educational workshops, community-centered green programs, and more with NYCHA communities. DK is widespread across the city, specializing in uplifting education around food justice, nutrition, environmentalism, fair housing, youth engagement, family initiatives, farming and gardening, green skills, and more. In addition to being an urban agriculturalist, DK is a classically trained pastry chef and uses her restaurant and hospitality training as an opportunity to teach culinary education and herbalism in green spaces throughout the city. And finally, Henry Rich is the managing partner of the Oberon Group. He has opened and managed nine food businesses since he started his first company out of college at age 22. He has managing partner of Purslane, Rukula, June, Rodora, Anais, and the Accord Market. Henry has been working towards providing sustainable, healthy, delicious, and affordable food in Brooklyn since opening Rukula in the spring of 2011. More recently, Henry has focused on climate advocacy, neutral carbon operations, zero waste practices throughout the food supply chain and sustainable building. He has recently finished a Master of Studies in Environmental Engineering at the Cambridge Center for Sustainability Leadership. Welcome, welcome panelists. Thank you for joining us today. You can all turn your videos on now. And we can get started. Anna, we're all here to talk about sustainable, sustainable food. So why is the topic of sustainable food important and worth discussing? And how is it relevant to climate change and decarbonization efforts? Yeah, so, you know, most people don't realize that food waste and food loss causes about 10% of the emissions that are driving sort of this climate crisis that we're in. And then also, it's something that anyone could make changes in their everyday life and adopt. So, you know, the reason we made the film is because most people don't make those two connections that they are contributing on an everyday, even though it's small way towards a climate crisis and vice versa they have the power to take action. And what's I think really important about this effort from the mayor's office is that it's not just, you know, individuals and citizens of the world, but it can be businesses, it can be government led, you know, I feel like there's money to be made and also it, you know, doesn't have to be top down it can be bottom up. And I think, you know, sharing our knowledge and you know people who are curious about ways that they can make a more sort of green production. You know, a lot of it is just shared by word of mouth and by just general curiosity. And like, again, the cool thing about food waste is that, you know, it helps on so many reducing it helps on so many levels there's emissions, you know, it's sort of the destruction of nature, and sort of food, like production takes up a lot of land. So if we're eating a lot of animals and the scale that we're growing food. If we can re, you know, divert where food is being wasted, we can feed more people, which is, you know, problem, whether it's in New York City or in, you know, South America. And then, again, at the same time, a lot of the strategies that go to reducing food waste can make money. It's something like, you know, for every dollar that you invest in food waste, there's a potential for a $14 return on investment. And right now, you know, I can also save people money at home. So it's like whether it's a business perspective, whether it's money, you know, profitable that you want to invent something, or it's just having a little bit more money or bank account. I think there are a lot of different reasons that this is a problem we can tackle together. That's a great answer. Food is so integral to all systems. It really does play such a big role. Okay. And we're here to talk about sustainable food on set. So, what are some of the most impactful areas of food waste, specifically on production sets. Sharon, why don't you start us off. Thank you, everyone. Yes, some of the most impactful areas of food waste on sets would be things like craft services, excess, uneaten meals, excessive consumption, misjudging consumption, just not properly handling leftovers and things like that so that the food can be donated. So, you know, a lot of this boils down to just really communicating with the productions that you're on as it pertains to exactly what meals they need. What are their dietary restrictions that there may be, how many guests do they think they're going to have, and just just communicating and just being as efficient as you can with the information that you have. So, yes, some of the things we cannot control because it is production driven, another request and all of that, but as much as we can. If we can, you know, just communicate a little bit better, possibly with these folks to help with some of this excessive consumption because I know many of you can attest to this there's a lot of food on film sets. And back in the day, you know, everybody should be really proud of that. But now even the productions and I'm happy to say they're a little bit more conscious now, and are really trying to work with this on. Well, hey, what about, you know, we were finding that salad is really, really becoming popular we really like that, because then that helps us lessen some of the other some of the proteins and some of the other items that are harmful to the environment and how they're manufactured and harvested. So, some of the most impactful areas as I said, craft services, excessive food consumption on eating meals, and even props, you know, sometimes food is used as props. And it's not, you know, maybe we can kind of work with the productions on, maybe does it all have to be real food, you know, because, you know, it's just going to go to waste because no one typically eats that. So whatever we're going to use it is there a way that we can use it so that it still stays at proper temperatures and it's stored properly so that after the show is over the food can be used or donated. Those are great to answer is really all encompassing amazing. I mean, you just made a really good point in the diverting so how can productions dispose of their food waste in a sustainable ways. If they can't donate it, or what have you. And I'll, sorry. Anna, why don't you start us up with this. Yeah, I mean Sharon probably knows a lot about this as well. I was going to say friends in city harvest is an organization here in New York City that really has a great system in terms of coming to pick up food or helping to divert it in terms of just making sure it doesn't go into landfill. Again, New York City has, you know, actually is kind of leading the charge in terms of composting, you know, on both the residential level and then also tasking commercial entities that deal with food to do so as well. I'm sure Henry can talk about this, but also in terms of just. I mean, to your point, like, I think serving size is something that like, you know, is being discussed more often just because I think even crews are a little, you know, uncomfortable with the amount of food that's there and that's not necessarily going home. I know some production companies will use like you know the snack packs and they'll just put it in a tub, you know save it somewhere and then reuse it for another shoot. But also like also like a la carte was something that I've seen on a recent sheet like set where instead of like making a jug of coffee everything was kind of to order and so you know you didn't have 80 extra smoothies that need to find a home. There's an organization actually in Boston called Daily Table, which is doing some really interesting foods because they'll take leftover ingredients and then they have a team of chefs that actually turn it into other things. And they can sell that as packaged food and or you know provided to people who are in need. But what I love about a lot of these solutions are really creative, you know, in terms of like, if you, if you know if you ask that question, you do a little bit of research, you know there are three different places that can help you out. And again I think it's just something that it's becoming more mainstream, you know this idea of wasting food is not cool, you know. Also just even sustainable food to your point about like on set now there usually is like one meat option one veggie option and potentially you know like gluten free or vegan option sometimes and I think that's really cool too because you know that's food that is, you know, maybe sourced from like a local provider opposed to just you know a major food supplier. And then you know I don't know if this is exactly true I'm sure somebody studying it but you know like sustainable food organic food, not only is it sometimes more flavorful, but ostensibly it might be healthier for you in terms of just like the nutrients it provides. So I think when you're on a set like you know, having a banana or having something that's opposed to just like a candy bar is actually kind of nice because it feels like you're eating something and like, you know, taking care of yourself and then still able to work. Sorry, I kind of like digressed a couple of different directions. But it's all good. It's more information. It's great. Did anybody else want to add any information there. I do. I love that and I love that you said city harvest thank you so much for uplifting them and I just want to add. There are so many mutual aid and nonprofit organizations who are standing at the ready to rescue food and receive this food and distribute food into communities, especially communities that I serve at gardens at NYCHA, which is an acronym for New York City Housing Authority. And these are low income communities that have not always been fairly represented. These are communities that are robust with talent and education, and just vibrancy but unfortunately have not always gotten fair representation and fair resources. So, being a community fridge advocate myself, I can speak to what Anna and Sharon are speaking of because we are so ready to rescue food from these sets, in addition to being an urban agriculture in addition to being a culinary. I was in the entertainment industry for 15 years in television media. So I know well, you know, I'm an events manager. So I know well, you know what's possible to Sharon's point when we communicate. And when we partner up and we stand together to really target a problem that doesn't have to exist. There's no reason we should live in a country where we're almost at the 35 million mark. Where community members are struggling with food insecurity. There's no reason for that to be the case when we live in a country where there's so much food prosperity and food opulence existing at the same time of food insecurity and imbalance. And I just also want to uplift that it's not just that we have food technically, because I want to eat what's good to me and what's good for me, what's going to help me mentally and physically. Anna mentioned an amazing point when I'm well mentally and physically, I'm a producing member of society and that affects my economics, it affects all of our economics. So we can't just technically have food to eat, we have to have something that's good for me mentally and physically I have allergies and asthma. So I don't want something that technically is going to feed me if it's going to land me in the hospital. I want something that's culturally relevant and speaks to my upbringing, and I want something that I just want to eat. So well put. So well put, and so inspiring. I love it. You mentioned so many great things but but I think it's important to ask DK why is it important that we examine all the ways that we source our food, because you mentioned the, the health aspect of it and, and the community aspect but you know it's important to know where our ingredients are coming from. Yeah, it's, I appreciate you asking that question I appreciate all the hard hitting questions that you're asking because these conversations are not always easy to have but it's important that we have them. And we are stronger together than we are by ourselves. And I mentioned my background because maybe some joining us today are wondering well, you know she's a farmer what does it have to do with entertainment, been an entertainment. So I understand and I know, but I also know that we are all coming from and representing community. And whether we're representing in my world, a community farm or garden, or in this audience's world of a community sets or a catering and restaurant back of house community, we're all coming from a community and going into a community. So, one of the reasons it's, it's tremendously important that we understand the source of our food is because one, it's important to know what we're feeding ourselves. It's important to know where this food is coming from that we're feeding our families it's important to know. Are we supporting, you know, reputable partners, or are we supporting partners producing food that's harming the earth and harming our communities. When we understand where our food is coming from, we can better understand how to address food waste. When we understand how to address food waste we understand that food waste impacts our natural resources. When it impacts impacts our natural resources. It again, it affects us mentally, physically. Those things are going to affect how we can produce into society, it's going to affect our autonomy. But when we understand where the source of our food is and how it's affecting nature. Now we're also impacting how we're treating the climate. And we're seeing the climate taking such a beating, it's actually contributing to the rise of climate anxiety. So now we're back on this hamster wheel that's affecting us mentally, physically, emotionally, economically. And if we don't understand where food is sourced and how it contributes to waste, we're staying on a hamster wheel that we can't get off of, and we can, if we just understand what we're doing. We can apply it in ways that speak to us. And when I say that I mean, it's not a one size fit all everyone on this panel, everyone in this discussion, we come from vastly different environments culturally economically from a religious standpoint. We have to understand and speak the language of each other and understand we need everyone to change everything and there's so many different things we can be doing collectively together to impact this issue of zero waste of the environment and food and security. I think that answered your question. And more. No, thank you. Thank you for that. That was very well put. There's so much importance that goes into where we source our foods. But that leads me to another question that I wanted to ask. Henry, as a manager of so many restaurants. Are there certain food items that you prioritize in sourcing sustainably. So how do you source the sustainable ingredients. Are there certifications that you look for when sourcing these ingredients. Yeah, that's a great question. Thank you. I think, you know, at the most basic level we we approach sustainability and into kind of parallel ways. One is through, you know, zero waste practices and the other is through kind of scope three carbon neutral sequestration. And in order to actually be carbon neutral, you need to measure the upstream carbon outputs of all of your farms. And in that process, you get to know kind of intimately because you because we're paying investing in sequestration projects to cancel out our footprint. You know, offset the emissions of the farms that we work with. You really get to know the price of working with red meat versus chicken versus fish. So, I would say just, it's kind of a cliche but what gets measured gets managed and so once you get into that exercise on, we start talking about it a lot more and paying attention to it a lot more. And, and, you know, working having the luck of working with kind of you know the Hudson Valley and the New York food shed in this moment as there's so many people kind of selling into the city and and so much this kind of difference of local tourism. There are a lot of really great wonderful farms that that we can support and because we're also part time operating in the cast skills. It's been great for our city businesses so I think just paying attention and talking about it and making it a priority. It's part of our mission and how we are differentiated from other restaurants and catering companies. It's something we talk about a lot. So, you know, I think that that's kind of the starting point, I guess is culture. You brought up, you know, buying red meat and sourcing that and not buying it. Have you found that there have been any kind of cost savings by buying less red meat and sourcing other kinds of ingredients. Yes, there, there have, most of all, I think because we are investing in sequestration for every ton of carbon created by our ingredients suppliers and our farms. It shows up in the price, whereas, you know, previously, we may not have differentiated between the price of a steak and a chicken. I'm not talking about ribeye but but something, you know, a little bit more accessible. It may have been the same price. Now it's a little bit more because it costs us a lot more because I mean until ultimately, if there is ever a carbon tax or these farms are kind of offsetting their own emissions, red meat will simply cost more and people will be used to that idea. But I think it now shows up on our menus and so people that are more budget conscious are like, oh, maybe, maybe I don't need red meat. But I wanted to say something else about this because kind of fresh on my mind because I had a conversation about it this morning where I think there is a sense, you know, to, to Anna's great point that, you know, food waste isn't cool anymore, but also for some reason when it comes to events running out of food, any menu item, even at the end of an event is, is nuclear with clients. And it could be, you know, there was like 10 different food items we have a whole bunch of something. It could be the last 10 minutes. And if we run out. We've had people this week request full refunds of a wedding like the whole wedding, not just like the food, all the food, but the whole wedding, because they were so angry that at the very very end of an event we ran out of food. So I think there's something there in the conversation about like this expectation that we're always going to bring way more food than could ever be consumed that is is in there. This is an expectation on the corporate end and on the social end that that's kind of a huge problem and no matter how much we talk to people. And like, oh, we're sustainable caterer we don't want to waste food. When it happens. People are very, very angry and so I think it's just like a culture wide conversation people don't act that way at restaurants, people certainly don't act that way in their own home but when it comes to events. It's a different instinct that takes over. So, I don't know what to do with that, but it's just worth. It sounds like it's a culture shift. It's an understanding on both ends. That's very interesting point that you bring up, and you probably see it quite often, which has, I'm sure you have to entertain many new conversations with people. You know, you, you brought up challenges with, you know, having ingredients on hand. As a caterer Sharon at at Hannah brothers do you experience any challenges in sustainably sourcing all ingredients needed, like, and getting those ingredients, or do you have to, you know, offset it with other ingredients that you prefer not to use. We do have at various times we have some difficulty, not, not often we are fortunate that we work with a farm that does the hydro, and I, I'm just going to say this wrong, like hydro ponix, something to that degree. And so they always have really great products for us with like fresh ingredients so we utilize them a lot. We do pretty well but sometimes there are some items that we cannot get, but we try to keep our to help with that a little bit. We try to do a lot of seasonal menus, so that we are using product, we are using products, more when they're in season, and of course if we have someone who just request something that's not in season we try to make it happen and do our best. And to combat that we try to do a lot of seasonal things we do a lot of seasonal roasted vegetables, a lot of seasonal fruits, a lot of seasonal salads. We do that on purpose to to help with staying with our local source or as source as much as possible. So and then other things that we may that help us as you know we're here in Atlanta, and many of you all know that it's a very a lot of movies and different things happening down here. And so there are a lot of vegans a lot of vegetarians. So, you know, at least 10 20% of 20% 10 mostly about 10% of our meal items are vegan and vegetarian. So we can, we can do some fun things with that. And down here, I will say they're really getting on board with getting away from meat with everything. So having clients tell me now. So occasionally that I don't when you when you do a meal for me it doesn't have they're not vegetarian or vegans they're just saying you just don't have a meat you just have to have a meat every time. It can be something else it can be some type of cauliflower meal with with something but and so that that's working in our favor as well so yes we have some challenges when you know when when things are asked that are not in season but for the most part, most of our menus are seasonally driven. I love that you brought up the seasonal aspect of it that's a great way to reduce our own impact by eating seasonal local foods. Yeah, reduces travel costs. Amazing. Thank you for bringing that up. But you brought up meat free alternatives. And so I do want to ask this to the caterers here. Henry and Sharon. How can, or have you, have you tried many more meat free initiatives like a meatless Monday or on on any of your sets or at your restaurants. And how was it perceived by cast and crew, and, you know, restaurant goers. I think that you want me to go. I feel like I want to say it's called catering for a reason. I think we're lucky and that because our, our brand has become really associated with sustainability people kind of come in. I'm not requesting that, but people are very worried if it's a 200 person crew kind of alienating really anybody so unless there's an actor who demanded that it be plastic free or meat free film set and that's starting to happen which is really nice. I think it really whatever creates the least amount of headache for them and leaves people feeling kind of full and happy that's been my experience, but yeah, curious what Sharon thinks. Yeah, I would agree it's catering and it's production driven so oftentimes we don't get the option to do meatless Mondays and things like that but we do, like I said try to incorporate to make sure that we communicate with our production to see how many vegans you have how many vegetarians you have with dietary restrictions so that we can have items there that they will eat and we're not making a bunch of food that 10% of the folks will not eat so we do communicate that and just not to jump away from that point but just to go back to something that you said earlier Henry and reference to caterers and things becoming nuclear, when they don't have enough food. That is, oh my gosh that is such an issue here with us that we actually develop the process when we just have a process in place now. We're going to take extra food because we don't want to run out but all of our attendance on site know that keep everything either refrigerated or in the hot box at proper temperatures wrap properly. Do not remove anything out the box until you're going to open it for someone to actually use so items that we have it there. So we don't run out but if we if we do if we if we have it left over, then it's in great shape we can bring it back either repurpose it and or donated out and it's a nice item. So that's how we kind of combat that and of course you know you add it to the customers bill a little bit but yeah. I want to jump in and lift a few things. Henry and sharing that you're sharing one my heart goes out to you both, because I remember from the event management side I remember even on doing culinary education in the urban spaces. I remember in those restaurant spaces where, as you said, it would be nuclear, but two things I want to uplift. You know, food waste has never been cool to the people who are hungry, just like food shaming food producers and food managers such as yourself food shaming isn't cool either. And I know we live in a society where economics is everything and I know we don't always have the choice to be particular about our clients. So this food movement, it's important to understand that sometimes we have to stand. We don't always want every client, we just want the right client. And sometimes that is about communication. Sometimes it's communicating to your sales team or your event manager. Listen, this is the messaging that we would like to push, starting now. Sometimes it's doing a tasting to say, I know you ordered this, but you're such a value client. We want to give you an exclusive introduction to how we're helping the community and the climate in this way, with this little tasting bite. I'm not by all means asking to interfere with your economics because let's be real, you have to make money. But in order to, you know, very cornally be the change we want people to see, we have to stand in some way because you know what's going to happen, Sharon and Henry, as a grower as a producer, when I hear that said client treated you in a certain way. But from an agricultural standpoint, I don't want to rock with them either. And now I'm the unhappy client that's going to tell 13 because I'm going to stand with you because you're buying my produce and my food, and I can't have people mistreating you. It's important to understand your leverage and leverage it in a way that you deserve, so that you are treated respectfully, and you can also impart the change that we want communities to see. Full empowerment, I love it. I love it. Very well said. So, Sharon, before you mentioned, you know, donations, working with with local people, local coordinate or organizations to donate food. So, how do you navigate these donations, how do you, how do you deal with liabilities. Well, we've been working with many of our partners for a long time now, and we've just continued over the years but we do we everyone has signed a waiver that you know we won't we won't be held responsible should something happen of course that is not our intent. We do our very best to make sure we keep and we, and we tend we tend to everything we, we are vessels that we use to move product from place to place. It's either either equipped to maintain heat, or to maintain coldness. So, but yes, everyone does have to sign a waiver with us but like I said, our partners that have been with us for years and for the people that we work with when we're out of state when we're not local. We have a system set up in place where we actually coordinate with the productions and I'm really happy to say, most productions have organizations that they support that they donate food to. So, we just coordinate with them in, in other locations and they let us know, this is the group and we just, after all the meals, we just prepare take all the excess and donated to those folks. So everywhere we go, either if we're on set locally if we're on set in other cities at our restaurant for corporate catering that we do, we have partners in place to donate all at all excess food to. Yes. Also, I just want to add, maybe people know this already but there is actually like a good Samaritan food donation act. So it is protected under federal law, I think from both criminal and civil like a liability. But for people who give food, you know, in good faith. So, honestly, like that should be, I feel like more people should be more aware of that because again, as long as the caterer or anyone who handles crafty they know about food services, you know, food handling and in terms of proper temperatures, proper, you know, hygiene, storage, et cetera, cold, cold storage, blah, blah, blah. And so, again, like, a lot of people don't know that's the case. So, the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act of 1996. So it's been on the books for a while and it's always surprising a lot of people don't know about it. Thanks for sharing. I actually didn't. So, the federal bill Emerson good Samaritan food donation act and it's designed to encourage food donation and to reduce food waste. And it's, it's designed also to help people understand that they are, they are not going to be held liable like we want to encourage food donations. So it's definitely you are protected in donating food. Thank you for bringing that up Anna. So that's a great point. And if there's one thing to take away from this there's many resources that you are protected. That's great. All right, let's, let's pivot to dealing with the food waste. Well, first off, what, Henry, what made you want to make your restaurants zero waste? Well, I think, you know, we had the sustainability wake up around like 2017 and I prior to that I didn't know that a quarter of emissions were caused by food related industries. I just felt if we were going to continue opening places we had to take, you know, as strong a stand and as we could, and, and, you know, embrace, at a bare minimum, carbon scope through carbon neutral operations kind of do no harm and then through our sphere of influence we would encourage, you know, other restaurants and food related businesses to think about their carbon footprints because, you know, as has been mentioned, it's right in between energy and transport but you know as people spend a lot more time talking about coal fired power plants and cars than they do about food even though food is significantly more of a contributor than all transport, all flights, all boats, you know, so it just felt like, like we had to do that. In terms of zero waste, we have one project that is zero waste in a very particular way which is to say that it's completely trash free. And that is something that we have, we have done, because we were inspired by the example of Doug McMaster with Silo in London who's, you know, also, you know worked with Dan Barber and is kind of known in these circles as a zero waste evangelist, and he came over to do a pop up with us. So then we tried to create a completely trash free restaurant, and frankly found that we were unable to do a full service restaurant there's America really runs on plastic and it was it was simply too difficult so that project is is a wine bar. But going all the way to 100, we realized how easy the first 90% was, and that was simply compost and recycling. And again, we did that just, you know, to feel okay about ourselves and not be contributing to landfill in an unsustainable way. And I would also say that 90% of getting to zero waste is is compost and recycling it's nothing crazy. It's just most of the bags of trash that you see kind of on the streets when they're piled you know 3040 100 high. Most of that is food and glass bottles. So, so we just, you know, figured that that we should do we can there and and not waste anything that didn't that shouldn't be wasted but the 100% nothing to landfill trash free interpretation of zero waste is is an extreme thing that we have tried at redora and it is rather impractical. And so we really just push for the 90%. Yeah, everywhere. 90 still an impressive number. Yeah, progress not perfection right. Yeah, 90% of the way there. Yeah. Um, may I ask what you're doing about cooking oil in your restaurants. Yeah, that is a question for executive chef on at redora, which is, you know, completely trash free. I assume that it goes into the compost, although I know that one of our one of our properties has a specific cooking oil pickup. So I don't know where I think it's, I don't know if it's reprocessed or disposed of in a particular way or used for some type of fuel, but a, but I think we have a contract. That I'm sorry that's kind of a kitchen question sorry I can't get better, I can, I can text them and ask. Maybe I can ask another question. How do you ensure that your compost and your recycling is going to to properly or effectively being diverted from landfill. Yeah, that's a really good question. You know, I think, I think we've switched haulers to a person that where we found their answer a little bit more sincere and convincing when it came to recycling. You know, it's a bad sign if they're throwing all the bags in the same truck, I would say for starters. It is important to push back on this idea that there are no recycling plants in New York since 2018. There is this idea that that New York stopped recycling. There are, you know, like 15 active recycling plants that are actually doing things they're not they're not fronts. For compost we felt a little bit more strongly about making sure that it was going to the right place so we switched to a an awesome startup called called hodge. That is just just has like a handful of employees and the world like long calls with them and they only have a few people they're working with so and they pick it up themselves and and it feels, it feels very real. But, you know, I think there are bad actors in the space of zero waste. About half of the zero waste compostable packaging doesn't actually break down. And for we've spoken to people at the plants, and they've given us a list of approved products and vendors where they're like, these are the people that you should buy from, but there's it's very very lightly regulated so there are people selling compostable products that will not break down in a compost facility and that's, you know, obviously disastrous. And that's half the products on the market right now. One nerdy thing that I just wanted to add is that I had a friend whose brother lived upstate somewhere and evidently you can use like used cooking oil in a diesel vehicle. There's like some sort of hack you can do so like he would literally just stop like he reached out to a bunch of his favorite restaurants and said like I'll take your cooking oil off of you. I'll pick it up and then use it to power his car. I don't know how to do that and I don't have a link to any sort of plans or whatever but again like just, there's so many creative solutions so I'm sure Henry has a lot more oil than could power one car but anyway, I'm waiting for someone to figure that out and like you know for not to be you know cooler than electric bike. Yeah, I'm going to join in on that Henry, you're on the right track. I'm going to co sign as well what Anna says you got it 100% right as a composter as a master composter. You can absolutely use cooking oil to not only power cars but there's a process of which you can separate the fats and the not so great parts that we wouldn't want to put in the oils and then extract more of that water those minerals those nutrients that might actually be good for the soil. So you are 100% correct and I, I'm cheering you on with my mute button on because you're just saying so many impactful things, particularly Henry that it's important that through education communities know not only what's being sold is not compostable, but the difference between what's compostable and bio degradable. So it's important that we have conversations like this so that we can powerfully impact and educate people, because we don't want to make assumptions that people know what to do or know what something is and they can't be impactful towards action, if they just don't even know. So it's really important that we be teaching our communities, educating them on language practices, and again, have a bevy of solutions and not a one size fits all. Yeah, thank you. And I would say I didn't know until I went to some green business meetup upstate and randomly wound up talking to a person who has like a compost facility and, and they told me this and we were horrified and we know fortunately we were buying from the right vendors but you know, a lot a lot of people don't and we very that easily could have been us like just thinking we were composting and actually destroying the compost. Yeah, it can be very difficult when the masses are like, okay, well I'm not going to buy plastic so buy something else. And maybe your city doesn't even accept compostables and so that you throw it in the green bin but it goes in the garbage there's there's a lot around waste literacy, which is integral to this conversation as well. But I'll open this question to everybody. If we just avoid that conversation or the having to deal with the waste how can we encourage the use of reusable on on in the catering and crafty on sets, so that we don't even have to deal with compostables or, or dealing with the recycling. What can we do here to encourage. And, you know, Henry brought it up and we've been talking about it this whole conversation partner with people that speak that language and can help you with this lift. You know, it's not necessary to check all the boxes when you can get a partner, a trustworthy partner that can help you manage that language that can help you manage those materials that can help you manage the dissemination of that education. That's what we're doing at growing YC. And I want to uplift all of the urban agriculture partners that are doing this work and YC compost and so many more organizations that are partnering with non conventional partners, like having an urban farmer on a mayor's payment in media conversation. It's not necessary for us to do everything by ourselves, it's actually impossible. So it's important that we examine how we can all do this together, collectively, and how we can be strong allies, you know, for each other, and provide those materials, you know that that our partners on this panel need. And I'll add, and this is to Anna's point that she made earlier on when she was talking about the economics of being sustainable because that's what we found using renewables a lot. As far as we don't use aluminum pans anymore we just use, you know, metal pans and, and we when we put our items in different vessels, we don't we don't we no longer we no longer throw them away we wash them out and we reuse them again. We're starting to do to do a lot of that and it's actually saving us a lot of money because aluminum and all that stuff is really expensive. So we've, we've we want to help the environment, but we also economically, you know, want to do what we need to do. And it's we're finding out that being sustainable or just being more environmentally conscious is actually helping our bottom line. I love it people can save money by being more sustainable. I have one question and I will also bring it up to everybody. Um, would it be more impactful to start hiring only sustainable catering companies, or to start hiring catering companies that aren't known for being sustainable and guide them on sustainability. My opinion is that if there's market demand for the sustainable companies. That's the moment at which the other companies will become sustainable, not the moment that they have the job and somebody's asking them to, to operate a little bit sustainably if it actually feels like people are switching to these companies that have taken on the extra expenses and and done the extra work. That you know that that's kind of the moment that people get a little bit more motivated to in any part of decarbonizing the economy that the competitors kind of pay attention is when they see the other sales numbers go up. I think it's also like human nature right it's competitive like business competition but like you know Tesla comes along and then all of a sudden GM is like oh actually you know what we're going to make electric cars too. You know and it's also just like a new behavior is easier to start than to like stopping an old one so again it's like the new company that's willing to do things very differently is probably, even for them they're just a little bit more nimble than someone who has to sort of like oh crap we weren't supposed to do that or oh crap or not he's supposed to use aluminum. So it's, you know, it's against kind of just human behavior I think as well. I'm going to offer a different perspective and I'm going to say we can both exist at the table. There's room for all of us and for the clients who might be working with a partner that isn't as sustainable. I'm going to ask that non sustainable or not as sustainable company to invite someone who is sustainable to the internal conversation so that the non sustainable partner can learn how to be more sustainable. If it's the non sustainable partner that has the mic. That's fine, but invite us to the table so that one, the sustainable people can learn how to navigate and get into this landscape and then teach others in this non sustainable area that have the mic how to more effectively and powerfully do this. I think the sustainable people have to be at the forefront all the time, but it's important that we be in the conversation to guide the direction, because we have a lot to share that can empower as well. So we can all eat, you know, we can all impact change together collectively and I think it's important to understand. It takes time to change habits. It takes time to change mindsets. It's not something that's going to happen overnight. And that's fine, but it still has to happen. It only takes one thing different to change a habit or to start to change a mindset and just having people at the start of a conversation can impactfully do that. I love this discussion. It's great discussion. I'll end it with one final question that if, if a production or even an individual anyone is trying to be just one step ahead or trying to start their journey and being more sustainable. What would be the most impactful area where could they put their resources, what, what, what single action can they start their journey with, or what are your opinions about what that single action can be. My opinion would be composting. Yeah, I know it's a very obvious answer. But just to generalize a little bit I think the thing with sustainability that that I've had to take on is that it is more work for everybody who's doing the work. And it asking people to operate zero waste, it has created additional kind of inconvenience. And there's a lot of resistance among the people who, you know, do this, because it's making a kind of a difficult job more, more difficult, and and composting is annoying. It's also fun. And it's also incredibly impactful. So I think just like composting but also just owning that it is going to be a little bit more difficult but but the reason that you're doing it is because the cost of not doing it are so high. I would have lived don't do it by yourself. You can literally Google NYC environmental partners. You can literally Google other partners doing this work. I'm going to uplift that the mayor's office of media and entertainment, and the mayor's office of urban agriculture led by Keanu Mickey is doing this work you don't have to do this by yourself. We are stronger together. We don't have to reinvent the wheel we just have to tighten the spokes join community spaces so you can learn and you can grow together and also be okay with what your lane is composting is great. I could talk about composting for hours, but my sister who doesn't want to touch organic matter, and she doesn't want that sensory experience. It's not for her. Maybe it's broadening the scope and providing more opportunities and education and knowledge that we need everyone to change everything. We don't all have to be doing the same thing because there are so many things we can be doing to help the earth and combat food insecurity at the same time. And I will mention that your organization grow NYC does have the compost program that can accept scraps from individuals as well. Yeah. Any other final comments. I want to say just like I think that now that people are more aware that food business a problem, or that like food insecurity is a problem. Hopefully just be a little bit more like cognizant of like what you're buying, you know, and trying to save food like you know, like, I love getting you know like taking leftovers home from the restaurant and then having it for lunch the next day. Occasionally, I will give my leftovers to someone if I see them on the street and they, you know, they want a meal. You'd be surprised how well some people he depending on what I am taking home with me. You know, even, you know, like, you know, I think this has been something that's been sort of satirized and joked about in various TV shows and programs but like our supermarkets are or where we buy food are just massive. And like, they're designed that way so that we buy more things, and we feel like we need and want more things not because that's actually, you know, of the right quote unquote amount of food for a family to have in their home or in the fridge or on the shelves. So, you know, even me it's like you know I always said well I'm going to go to the store by three apples and it's like well, am I going to eat like three apples and the amount of time that it's going to be, you know, before they're going to not be, you know, sort of past or do I really need the big value size of cereal should I just get, you know, just the smaller size, and even things like that. I kind of think make a difference more than people realize. And just, you know, if you stop and think with every meal. There's probably one little thing you can do that would reduce food, you know, your, your waste on a, on just a personal level that you can live with that's not too much of a hardship. And again, like, if everyone in New York City did that, like what would the impact would be, you know, everyone in New York State did that with that impact would be. And I think just, you know, to, to take a page from decay and empower, like one small act is actually going to have, you know, big repercussions we don't think the change is going to happen tomorrow but we're trying to make changes to like the next generation and the generation after that have, you know, a planet they can actually live on. Amazing. And also looking at what you have in the fridge forces you to be a little bit more creative with your meal because you have to use so many leftover ingredients. Thank you so much these have been amazing, amazing conversations, great discussion. So many resources were shared. I really appreciate all of you taking time to answer these questions. We do have a couple questions from the audience. And please, if anybody listening has any other questions, please enter them into the chat. We're going to open up the discussion to any questions from the chat. So, where should someone start. If they don't know how to compost. Are there classes on it. DK that's you. Yes, 100% Google NYC compost and organization that is training master composters such as myself. However, they are welcoming at of compost enthusiasts or even not enthusiasts of all skill set levels. So reach out to NYC compost and Elora has my information as well and as we've been talking I'm actually generating a list of not even just zero waste resources, but just environmental and food security resources because there are levels to this and zero waste management is but one, and it works in conjunction with again food education food access and agriculture conservation which is where zero waste falls under and access to green spaces. So I'm compiling a list I'm definitely going to send it to and Elora and Elora if you can help me, you know send it out to all of our attendees today. It will have additional composting resources it'll have additional community garden spaces that you can come and help these community gardens with their compost and their stewards, like myself will be more than excited to teach you and share with you and and these are all free resources and we'd be more than happy, you know to engage with you and welcome you. Yes, please send me that list, I will send it out to MoM and they can redistribute it to all of the attendees today, because we don't want these these resources to go to waste. We want to share these these resources with everyone here. There was another question about if we had if there was a list of organizations that were partners to donate food, sustainable caters in New York and other locations. I'll open it up to all of you if you have a list of organizations that are partners that you donate to in New York or in your respective areas. So I'm going to uplift value mission on the lower East side. I'm also going to uplift again, you know please reach out to the Mayor's Office of Urban Agriculture because they are a resource hub that has all of this robust information that we are talking about. You know, I again can add some some more of those besides value mission besides city harvest, besides some I think green Bronx mutual aid and so so many other partners so I'll add that to the list as well. And when you contact a community farm or rescue mission organization, they're going to have partners that they partner with as well. The answer again is to Google it, or to call, you know, information 311 or 411 I forget which one it is and just say, I need someone to champion rescuing food. And you don't even have to say from a film set, you don't you don't have to identify yourself in that way, you can just say, can you please let me know what are some food rescue missions that I can contact within the five girls. So just yeah like if that's something that even like could live on the Mayor's Office like on the moment page, I bet, you know, that's more work for maybe Laura. But I was saying that like, you know, we're serious about trying to get, you know, more of the industry to sort of practice this it might be something very simple in terms of like, putting that on there when you have to apply for your film permit and all the other stuff and parking permits and whatever. I will also add, I know that Earth Angel works without like a rock and roll in New York as well a lot. New York City community fridges, and you can look them up on NYC fridge.com, and you can drop off food and non perishables or what have you to these fridges as well. Call your local shelters. They, a lot of people, a lot of places will will take your food. I do want to encourage you though as a food community fridge advocate myself, it's important that you get in contact with that community fridge before you want to do this endeavor because we, we organize and we act in the community, autonomously. So that is to say, what one community free just doing in the Bronx, you know, in a specific neighborhood in the Bronx is going to be very different from what another Bronx neighborhood may be doing. It's important to remember and that you get in touch with that organizer or that team of that community fridge, so that you don't show up day of and then your feelings are hurt, because maybe that fridge has been deactivated, or that community fridge organization has moved on to another level or part of mutual aid. Yeah, that was just going to just comment just chime in down here we do a lot with organizations such as Better Way Salvation Army and the local homeless shelters down here in Atlanta we do. That's what we give most of our donations away to just FYI. That's great. And Daphne in the chat has added that rock and wrap it up is also another organization to for donations for productions and knowing me. I hope I said that right. Thank you for your local fire station. Apparently they'll be very happy to receive leftover food. Okay, I think that's the end of the questions from the chat. Any lasting or any final words for the for the guests for anyone from any of the panelists, and if not. Thank you to the panelists. Thank you to mom and the NYC Film Green program for for hosting this this workshop and sharing all of these valuable resources and this great discussion here on the page is some tips for increased food sustainability on sets please take a screenshot. Talk about it with with people around you. Ask for it on your productions. Try to get it do little actions yourself as well. And a reminder to everyone here that this has been recorded, it will be shared to the NYC Film Green website. And you can watch it as many times as you want along with other panels that we've held in the past. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Yes, thank you panelists. Again, thank you to mom and stay tuned for the next office hours, which will also be an amazing discussion on increasing sustainability on production. So thank you everyone, and have a lovely evening. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Thank y'all have a great afternoon. Thank you so much.