Compared to the rest of us, Plastic is having a great year. Single use masks, disposable coffee cups and plastic gloves are all heading for our oceans and beaches. An infographic from the 2020 Great British Beach Clean illustrates the scale of the problem.

None of this is necessary. As Greenpeace points out, plastic doesn’t stop Covid and it certainly isn’t any cleaner than reusable alternatives.

We get why business practices that might reassure customers haven taken priority over sustainability. We’re all feeling the pressure. Many Greenkit customers are now working in smaller teams, and with tighter budgets than they were before pandemic hit. That’s without the stress of running a Covid-safe filmset on top. That’s why I wanted to share some really simple tips on how we’re balancing these priorities with the help of some really great brands. We’ve even put together a Covid Kit for our clients to save them time.

Masks

The film industy is full of super-talented people. We’ve commissioned AKM Design and Costume to make us double layer cotton masks for clients and colleagues from fabric scraps.

There’s lots of patterns out there if you have the time. If you don’t, buy them from companies like Baukjen,  or Labrum London who sell masks at cost or donate profits to charity.

Cleaning Products

We use our new fogging machine to disinfect the kit between jobs, but around the office we use cleaning products from Splosh and Ocean Safe. Both these companies sell reusable bottles, with refills that are diluted with water to produce a cost-effective cleaning product without plastic waste or environmental damage. The Splosh bottles are really cool, and come with a lifetime guarantee, but if you have an old plastic spray bottle you can reuse that’s even better. They tell you how to do make this contribution to the no-plastic pandemic, on the packaging.

Hand Sanitiser

If you’re working from home, or in an office you can’t fault old-fashioned bar soap. No plastic, no fuss, lasts for ages and way more effective than hand sanitiser. Little Soap Company and Back to Earth both have a great range that’s not packed in plastic. When we’re out and about we’re using Bentley Organic hand sanitiser, which is organic and environmentally friendly, although the bottle is plastic.

Gloves

Have to say, I just don’t see the point of these.  All our team have their own gaffers gloves to protect their hands when handling kit. But where’s the logic in plastic gloves, which just move transmission around and end up in landfill?  I’ll leave these for the health-workers and just wash my hands more thank you very much.

Temperature Guns

We use these every single day on colleagues and visitors alike. It’s bizarre to think that six months ago, your body temperature was your own business – now it’s a right of entry almost everywhere. Try and use rechargeable batteries where you can.

Friendly Signage

There’s lots of official Covid signage around, but we found it pretty boring so we made our own. You can have a lot of fun with an image editing programme and then get Dox Direct to print a small number of high quality posters very affordably.

None of this is difficult, expensive or particularly original and lots of businesses are doing this already. But we’re determined that when all this is all over we won’t have lost sight of the bigger picture which is how to live and work together sustainably in a post Covid future.