Cultural activity not only encompasses a sphere of creation but also working with particular materials and products – complicated logistics of interrelated elements which require planning and concrete decision-making. In the current model of operations, we usually consider the aesthetic and financial criteria. However, the climate crisis necessitates a revision of these assumptions and requires adding another important factor: environmental impact. A lot of resources prepared in laborious production processes are used on a one-off basis, without the vision of ever using them again, without ensuring the ecological qualities of raw materials. A short supply chain is rarely promoted, even though it is one of the most important elements of sustainable production. That is why change is so important – both in terms of individual creative practices and internal policies of institutions. It will give cultural production an opportunity to become a more environmentally friendly area.
STEP 1
The first step is to revise your current processes associated with the production and use of materials. Think about how to reduce the commissioning and production of new things, how to use and continue to reuse the resources you already have, how to recycle them, how to avoid production traps and which products you should avoid in order not to produce unnecessary waste. Being aware of your decision-making process is key to further stages of sustainable production.
Planning
Make a list of things which make up the production process. What do you need to switch on, build, transport? Where do you need to commute to? What do you need to provide appropriate sound and lighting to? What do you need to record? What products, materials, tools and equipment do you need to order? When you finish, the list will be quite long. Remember that none of these things appear ‘out of nowhere’ and go ‘somewhere’. Analyse how all of this may affect the environment.
3Rs for production (+ 1)
When producing a theatre play, a concert or an exhibition you deal with a large number of materials and have influence on decisions concerning power consumption, purchasing, raw materials and transportation. In order to make decisions for more sustainability, follow the ‘3Rs’ principle: reduce, reuse and recycle. In this context, we are adding one more ‘R’ important for this area – repair.
Reduce. The most environmentally friendly resolution you may take at the stage of planning is: I shall not order and produce unnecessary things. There are already so many resources in circulation that they need to be used first. Whenever possible, look for ways to reduce raw materials being used. Avoid materials which would be difficult to recycle. Reduce the amount of material necessary to build a set or exhibition infrastructure. Instead of buying equipment, rent it from other organisations. If purchasing equipment turns out to be necessary, consider sharing costs with other institutions. Pay attention to energy-saving solutions – switch off and reduce unnecessary lighting and electricity, use energy-efficient LED lamps to reduce power consumption.
Reuse. Check what your institution has in store, consider how you can reuse your resources. If you work for a big institution, sometimes you do not even know that the material or equipment you need is available in store. Therefore, seek better communication with other departments. Together, prepare a catalogue of materials ‘for general use’ which the whole organisation could access and which would be regularly updated. Rely on what the organisation has at its disposal. Also, act similarly in the case of invited artists – encourage them to reuse the resources you already have.
Many cultural institutions face the challenge of insufficient storage facilities. This is the reason why perfectly reusable materials are disposed of, as there is nowhere to store them. Avoid such practices – they are wasteful and non-ecological. Minor elements of the equipment which the institution no longer deems useful can be shared with local organisations and partners or disposed of during garage sales. This will allow you to gain some space in your storage, enter into cooperations with local foundations, associations, and cafés; get to know your neighbours. (See: GOOD NEIGHBOURLINESS)
A bigger challenge to institutions is posed by large fixed assets, such as exhibition structures and set designs, which are painstakingly produced but often destroyed soon after the project finishes as they were custom-made for one-off events. Try planning to use the same architecture or set design for a few seasons or at least reuse and recycle their parts. If elements of set design are of particular financial value, organise an auction and donate the proceeds to a charitable organisation or fund programmed activity at your institution.
It is also worth remembering that public institutions have the option of selling unnecessary fixtures or equipment as so-called redundant assets. Disposal is not the only solution, so look for ways to put items into circulation.
> Throughout the 2019/2020 season, the Drama Theatre in Wałbrzych was using the same modular set designed by Karolina Mazur. The set consisted of blocks made of plywood, which could be configured and complemented with additional elements: props, fabric, furniture. Artists modified it to suit the requirement of particular plays. This approach, which was pioneering at the time, is now frequently used in stage solutions.
> Faced with the problem of storing display cases and post-exhibition architecture at its headquarters, the Cincinnati Art Museum donated the materials to a local organisation that builds homes for people emerging from homelessness. Read more: Green Team: Repurposing Exhibition Building Materials.
>The Narodni Divadlo theatre in Prague bases its productions on the 3xR principle. Working closely with Re-Use Federace, it aims to create a ‘materials bank’ that will enable the reuse and recycling of individual elements of stage design. The digital catalogue contains a list of all furniture owned by the theatre, and similar catalogues are also planned for costumes and props. Read more: Sustainable productions.
Repair. A lot of items, e.g. appliances working slowly, an old kettle, slow computers are often prematurely considered inefficient and just disposed of. Sometimes they are thrown away without attempting to service them. However, a lot of these items may still serve. In refraining from repairing we unnecessarily lose lots of useful resources. The focus on repair as an important element of asset recovery is one of the elements of sustainable strategies currently being implemented in EU regulations.
> Read Repair Manifesto by the Dutch design organisation Platform 21, which many years ago drew attention to the fact that repair is underappreciated in contemporary culture – both as a creative, cultural and economic force, and in terms of its environmental potential.
> Some museums, wishing to support the idea of repair, are opening their doors to Repair Cafés – community events where people bring broken items such as electronics, clothing, furniture or bicycles to be repaired free of charge by volunteer experts. Read more: Why Your Museum Should Host a Repair Cafe.
Recycle. In the creative sector, recycling may not only be useful – it is also an invitation to unleash imagination and creativity. Looking for creative ways of recycling waste and re-introducing it into circulation in cooperation with artists could become a permanent fixture of an institution’s programme and manifest on various scales – from the ‘iconic’ bag made from banners to bigger projects: a comprehensive philosophy of creating exhibitions, performances, etc. More and more projects in the field of art and culture are aiming to use recycled materials and processed raw materials. Even buildings are made of recycled materials, including buildings of cultural institutions!
> The recycling of materials and architecture in exhibition activities is already a very visible trend. In Poland, examples of such exhibitions included, among others, ‘Earth Given(up)’ at the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź and ‘Klimaks’ at the Emigration Museum in Gdynia.
> Some institutions set up special teams responsible for implementing recycling ideas, e.g. the Recycle Lab at the Onassis Stegi theatre. Read more: Onassis Stegi Goes Green.
> Many theatres analyse the recycling of materials in the field of set design, props and costumes to determine what percentage of materials are reused in subsequent productions. See the example of London’s National Theatre: Sustainability: Productions.
> See how artists process their materials in a non-obvious way: 13 Incredible Artivists Using Recycled Materials in Their Art.
> Read about buildings from recycled materials: Quality architecture from waste. Waste as a new building material.
Communicate. If you do use recycled materials to create your stage design, use modular furniture which can be used multiple times or reuse the architecture of your exhibitions – communicate this through exhibition notice boards, include it in the information about your performances, let the audience know about it. Your practices may inspire other people and institutions and the pro-environmental aspect of the project may constitute an additional incentive for the audience to visit your production. (see: COMMUNICATION AND PROMOTION)
Problematic plastic
There is one type of material – or actually a few types – which should be particularly avoided as far as possible – plastics. However, it is not so easy to avoid, because plastics are used in the products of practically every sector. Plastic’s immense popularity is associated with its usefulness for people: it extends food storage period, it is light and universal. However, as a result we have become hostages to the millions of tonnes of plastic, which is deposited in the soil, water and in landfills around the world. If we do not change our attitude, it is predicted that by 2050 the plastic in seas and oceans will outweigh fish.
How do plastics affect the climate? Conventional plastic is made of fossil fuels. Mining, production and transport of petroleum and natural gas contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases. Plastic takes about 500 years or more to degrade. When it degrades, it separates into microplastics, which are currently practically impossible to remove. It is sometimes the case that plastics contain chemical substances which are harmful to the environment and human health.
It’s a myth that every type of plastic can be recycled. There are six basic types of plastic, each with different properties, and only a few have a recycling potential dependent on many external factors (e.g. profitability, durability, availability of recycling facilities in a given country). There is also a seventh type – the so-called other plastic, which is non-recyclable. As can be seen, plastics are not equal. There are also more and less harmful varieties, e.g. products containing toxic bisphenol A (BPA) should be avoided at all cost. High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE, 2) and Polypropylene (PP, 5) are highly recyclable. The most popular type, PET (1), used for making drinks bottles is recyclable but only under certain conditions. Its recovery rate is currently at 35-50 percent (compared to over 90 percent for glass), because recycling it is economically unjustified and the end product is of insufficient quality (PET quality deteriorates with each recycling process). The recently introduced ‘plastics directives’ (a deposit system for PET bottles and an increase in the recycled content of new bottles) are aimed at improving the efficiency of recycling this material.
Products marked as ‘compostable’ cannot be placed in an ordinary composter (they require industrial composters), while a lot of plastic products marked as ‘biodegradable’ degrade just as long as standard plastics, and separate into microplastics. Although not made from fossil fuels but from renewable plant sources, bioplastics have a lot of properties in common with standard plastics. They absorb toxic substances like sponge and can easily be transferred to various ecosystems, polluting them. Plastic waste is so ubiquitous in the environment today that it has been suggested that we might regard plastic as a geological indicator of the Anthropocene Era.
As far as possible, avoid contributing to this ‘deposit’. Despite appearances to the contrary, we have significant influence on this – based on UN data, nearly 40 percent of all globally-produced plastics are packaging materials. They leave behind plastic production associated with home furnishings, the building industry and electronics. And since it is us – the consumers – who decide on packaging, let us choose consciously and stimulate changes in the production sector with our choices.
> Read more: Culture Beyond Plastic.
Toolkits associated with materials
If you need concrete advice on what to pay attention to in order to green the production processes and raw materials you use, we recommend reading the following publications and websites:
> For museum and gallery specialists – a guide by Ki Culture for sustainable action while packing, storing and transporting objects: Waste & Materials: Collections Care: Packing, Storage & Transport
> For those looking for recycled materials, a database created by Kingston University: Rematerialise.
> For those interested in creating new non-toxic materials – a platform on making biodegradable materials from locally sourced biomass, created by an international community of scientists and artists: Materiom
STEP 2
Familiarise yourself with the idea of a circular economy and the resulting philosophy of sustainable design. It is worth testing this model right away, gradually implementing its assumptions and mapping out further possibilities. The assumptions of a ‘closed circuit’ concern holistic change, remodelling the production and consumption process, so this is a long-term process.
Closed loop
The model of a closed-loop economy (also called circular economy) is an attempt to get away from the linear scheme: mining – production – consumption – disposal. This model has caused resources to gradually run out and has led to the current ecological and climate crisis. Hence the calls for categorical change in favour of a closed loop, with material being used as in the natural environment, where nothing is lost in the circulation of matter.
According to this concept, we do not produce waste but raw materials and things which can be reused or passed on. The aim of the circular economy is to maintain the highest quality and functionality of products, materials and resources for as long as possible by constant regeneration cycles of recycling and renewal. This is a complex process and closing the loop (or opening it) is influenced by each and every one of us by taking decisions associated with production or purchasing (or refraining from purchasing) of particular products and services. The basic aim of the closed-loop model is not only satisfying the needs of humans but also a fair division of resources without abusing the natural world and the biosphere.
Sustainable design
Principles. Sustainable design takes the whole cycle of a product into account, from the beginning to the end (cradle to cradle), and each stage in a product’s life includes ecological criteria. Although the principles of sustainable design may seem to be a restrictive necessity, in reality they have a great potential offering an opportunity to make higher quality products supporting creativity and innovative thinking.
Below you will find a few simple aspects, although quite demanding in practice, which should be taken into account with sustainable design:
– fewer materials (before you purchase something new, think about reusing existing resources);
– ease of recycling (easy dismantling, option to separate materials)
– type of material (it is best if there is one type of material or various biodegradable and natural materials);
– durability (maximum product life);
– multi-purposefulness (ability to be reused, repaired, multiple applications, recyclability)
– efficiency (adjustability to function and scale, e.g. designing exposition infrastructure for a touring exhibition so that it fits in the smallest means of transport possible, can be reused and efficiently stored);
– innovativeness (ability to optimise the product);
– cohesive eco-message (propagating the idea of sustainable design through a product which validates the idea).
These general principles are accompanied by more detailed regulations, which result from the standards associated with introducing sustainable products on the market. The main certificates and standards for this area worth remembering include Cradle to Cradle (C2C), ISO 14062 and ISO 14001.
Translating sustainable design principles into further processes. Sustainable design translates into subsequent elements of the product cycle: from sustainable packaging (minimising packaging, ethical production, recyclability), supply chain (shortening of the transport route, using local manufacturers and suppliers), storage, distribution – to utilisation and disposal (as long as the product cannot be reused after completing the circle).
In order to take care of these aspects, it is worth investigating the process of utilising materials and services within your own organisation – what ‘comes in’, what ‘comes out’, who makes decisions about what to order or buy, when, to what extent and how it is used, plus what happens to it next. Pay attention to the characteristics of individual contractors, service providers or producers – and choose those who can demonstrate an appropriate environmental policy. It is worth including provisions on sustainable environmental and social development in public procurement, emphasising mandatory requirements, e.g. using local resources or products from sustainable sources. Similar provisions should also be included in contracts.
Ecological certificates are also an important factor confirming the compliance of products or services with ecological standards. However, since there are many certification systems on the market and sometimes you can fall under the spell of a marketing eco-stamp rather than real, reliable verification criteria, it is important to remain vigilant and, if necessary, resort to proven and reliable certificates (see examples below). It is also a good idea to refer to responsible purchasing guides in order to choose brands that have a positive impact on people, the environment and the planet.
> Read the manifesto on set design in the spirit of circular economy developed by Union des Scénographes: Declaration of eco-scenography.
> A lot of valuable advice on eco-design, circular economy and tools for applying it in the creative sector can be found on these websites: Sustainability Guide, Circular Economy Introduction.
> Familiarise yourself with examples of proven eco-certificates
> Browse eco-consumer guides: Ethical Consumer Guide, Ekonsument.
STEP 3
This is the right time for you and other institutions and cultural organisations to jointly think about how to ensure circulation of the materials you already possess, that is how to cooperate, share materials and equipment and create a common repository for cultural productions.
Towards co-sharing
An institutional cultural cooperative? A central warehouse? It sounds like a utopia. However, if we were to ignore the first signs of resistance and think about it on a more sustainable scale – that of a housing estate, district or a whole city – the idea begins to sound more interesting and possibly quite real. The examples of various cooperative and co-sharing initiatives show that it is possible to create a common resource that would involve institutional entities. Operating models may vary. Institutions may open their storage facilities to the needs of local artists. Institutions of a similar type (museums, theatres, cinemas, etc.) may attempt to create an exchange and cooperation network associated with circulating resources. ‘Storage’ does not necessarily have to mean a physical space (although it may); it can be manifested in a virtual space. It is important for the cultural sector to come together against wasting resources and create systems for cooperating over sharing goods. Then, single-use architecture may get a chance to become multiple-use architecture, unnecessary furniture may be put into circulation and unused equipment may finally be used again. Such a practice of sharing resources, which is not incidental but constitutes an element of the cultural bloodstream, would not only ease the burden on the environment and represent an ethical shift, but also provide an impetus for changing the model of how culture functions.
Get inspired:
> Warsaw-based Spółdzielnia Kultury Culture Cooperative brings together institutions, non-governmental organisations, informal initiatives and all interested individuals focused on local activities. It promotes the idea of the free circulation of goods and sharing of resources that can be put into common use. This includes, among other things, space for activities, equipment and materials. The only criteria are that the activities must be neighbourly, open and non-commercial. Read more: Spółdzielnia.
> Materials for the Arts is a leading New York centre dedicated to resource reuse. It collects a wide range of materials donated by local companies, communities, fashion houses, TV productions, and corporations for reusing. Resources are made available free of charge to creatives, schools, civic organisations, city agencies.
