Judging by the influx of environmentally-based story lines coming to both the big and small screens, it appears that it is important to be involved in a project that promotes environmental awareness. However, when it comes to being part of the reality of carrying out the message, the preference is to escape into the imaginary world that has been created in hopes the problem will go away. However, it is not going to go away until everyone accepts responsibility for their actions and chooses to make it go away. Canuck Creations took the first step by choosing to participate.

Canuck Creations is located in a converted warehouse-style space in Toronto. Photo courtesy of Canuck Creations.

Problems were not restricted to the film industry. Many environmental organizations possessed only basic information on waste management, did not understand the scope of the project, or would not return phone calls. The information available today is limited not only in quantity but in quality as well. Much of the information about waste management veered in the direction of landfill processes. In addition, the information available was extremely out of date. As for resources about waste management and the film industry together, it simply does not exist. Nevertheless, there is an Animation Waste Management Plan.

An Environmental Audit
An animation company can be very similar to a regular office as there are large amounts of paper and other stationary being used, however fluctuations in production can vary. This gives an animation company oscillating rates of waste production. Also, smaller companies tend to have their services contracted by larger studios that supply them with the materials needed for the project to maintain uniformity. This changes the composition of their waste with each job.

Due to the uniqueness of the business, a regular waste audit, consisting of a detailed investigation of the actual wastes produced by a business during a period of a week or month, was not appropriate. One week or one month would not portray an accurate account of the wastes produced over the course of a year. In addition, depending on the type of projects the company is involved in, each year may also be different. Therefore an environmental audit was conducted. This consists of walking through the studio space, asking questions to the staff, and assessing the purchasing records of the company. In Canuck Creations' case, their purchasing records covered a period of one and a half years.

Over the course of the year, visits to the studio were carried out every two to four months to update visual data, the purchasing records were broken down into numerical data, and additional information was sought from other sources in attempts to piece a management plan together. Despite the fact that there are very limited resources for this type of project at the moment, the bulk of the information needed was in the audit. Canuck Creations is a paper-based business with paper accounting for almost 30% of their supplies. However, it was found that by changing purchasing habits, they could cut their continuously purchased supply numbers in half and curb costs by 26%. For example, the purchase of 66 rolls of scotch tape with plastic dispensers costs Canadian $143.44, which is more than 66 rolls of scotch tape without plastic dispensers at $131.62, plus the cost of investing in a couple of communal permanent dispensers at $4.98 each. This total comes to $141.58. It may only be a couple of dollars but it is the elimination of plastic dispensers that cannot be recycled that is important. Through reducing the need for scotch tape all together, the costs and wastes will be reduced. In addition, the use of multipurpose tape can eliminate the need for various types of tape, and/or buying tape in bulk prevents excess packaging. Both ideas reduce costs and wastes.