Eco-audit

Lucid recently commissioned an eco-audit to help us think about how we are doing and what we could do better. We want to share some of the tips that work for us, along with our ambition to do more.

Travel

Some of our photographers travel a lot for work. We try to play our part in reducing the footprint where we can:

• We encourage travel by train rather than flying, even if the headline cost is higher. Once you’ve factored in the cost of travel from the city centre to airports, plus time wasted in queues, the train looks better and better. We use Seat61 for Europe and Split my Fare for UK journeys.
• We try to daisy-chain bookings to reduce the total number of journeys (and reduce the stress and fatigue for our teams)
• We’re going to look into carbon-offset schemes for times when there’s no alternative to flying, and consider adding this small extra cost as a budget line.

Photoshoots

We are working to reduce the waste and fossil fuel consumption generated by photoshoots. One of our bugbears is how photo studios get littered with half-drunk plastic bottles of water – people simply put them down and forget. We bring spring water in a 10 litre ‘bag in a box’ Boxed Water and use studio-supplied reusable drinking glasses or corn starch disposable ones if required – better for the environment and the budget. We also ask crew and clients to bring their own reusable water bottles and coffee cups when on location.

We use Pedal Me Pedal Me to transport kit, staff, and portfolios. These electric-supported cargo bikes nip through London traffic faster than a taxi, and can transport huge loads (up to 150kg on a regular bike). We book through an app but they are also available to speak to tweak bookings when it’s more complicated. We also use electric vans and cabs if a bike just isn’t suitable.

We ask about who supplies the utilities at studios and do they provide recycling on site? We will always choose the greener location whenever possible.

As Levy Collectors for Ad Green we also add that small green levy to all jobs that we produce.

Office

We’re lucky to have an office that’s well-connected by public transport, and several people here cycle to work. We’re going to put more information on the website to encourage visitors to leave the car behind and visit us by public transport/bike/on foot.

Our electricity is supplied by Ecotricity and we’ve got rid of our gas boiler

We use too many take away cups! It’s part of the social life of the office to buy each other little treats from time to time. We want to keep that up without the waste. We’ve got a few ideas that involve our favourite Brockley coffee shops. Watch this space.

We love our plastic-free and recycled loo paper from Who gives a crap. Is it weird to shout about this on social media?

Our informal audit was a first step. We’ll revisit it in six months. Let us know if any of these ideas are useful for your business and any other tips for cutting back on waste and your carbon bill. And hit us up if you need a discount code for whogivesacrap