Define eco-responsible production methods in the various sectors: eco-production and reuse in sets and scenography
The functioning of exhibitions and scenographies in the cultural sector often involves the creation of waste or the purchase of new in the creative process. However, a growing number of cultural actors are now at the forefront of this field, and are increasingly using reuse and eco-production.
Eco-production and reuse are part of the process of rethinking creation. Their implementation, however, requires a clear diagnosis of the environmental impact of the successive stages of the production process.
According to Article L541-1-1 of the Environmental Code, reuse refers to “any operation by which substances, materials or products that are not wastes are used again for the same use as they were designed for”.
In practice, integrating reuse into the creative process requires having anticipated. How? By setting up devices in purchases and orders as in scenography and programming, the realization and monitoring of inventories, the organization of storage and production spaces, and local partnerships.
Analyze the stages of production, for better anticipate and target the actions to be implemented, it is possible! Tools exist to support cultural actors in their approach: find them below, in the section "Additional resources".
Questioning creation from the perspective of the circular economy
Circular economy principles applied to the cultural sector
The circular economy can be a very useful notion to rethink the different stages of cultural creation, its dissemination; and more broadly to question the impact of our cultural practices.
In its guide on the circular economy of cultural places, the City of Paris recommends:
- To develop the sobriety (in materials and consumption) in connection with artists, scenographies and shows
- To produce scenographic materials removable to facilitate the reuse or recycling of the elements, and avoid having a constructive principle for single use
- To promote the procurement of second-hand equipmentIt is also necessary to use materials that include a portion of the recycled material
Download the circular economy guide for the city of Paris:
Enfin, recyclage n'est pas seulement synonyme de tri ! Pensez à interroger vos prestataires sur leur façon de gérer leurs déchets, exiger que les matériaux soient redirigés vers des acteurs du réemploi, voire demander un suivi des quantités de déchets évacuées et du traitement associé.
L'éco-production et le réemploi en pratique
Dans le domaine des expositions, galeries, foires etc., des projets concrets commencent à éclore dans un secteur où les évènements éphémères engendrent parfois du gaspillage important.
Les actions menées partent souvent de gestes simples : réduction au strict nécessaire des impressions papier, remplacement des cartons d’invitation par des e-mails, limitation de l’emballage plastique au profit de textiles réemployés ensuite, filtres à eau pour remplacer les bouteilles en plastique...
Le secteur de l’événementiel et des musées n’est pas exempt de mesures à mettre en place non plus. Pour des événements ponctuels, The Shift Project recommande la diminution des volumes de bois utilisés et l‘augmentation des volumes de matériaux issus du réemploi, ainsi que l’abandon des matériaux trop carbonés (moquette non recyclable, coton gratté...).
En résumé, voici quelques objectifs à garder en tête lors du processus de création :
- L’anticipation : chaque achat doit se faire en gardant en tête la réutilisation potentielle des matériaux utilisés à la fin de l’exposition.
- Utiliser la création au service d'un récit écologique : communiquer sur l’objet et son processus de création permet de mettre en avant les étapes écologiques du processus.
Un exemple en pratique : l'éco-production appliquée au secteur du livre
Identifier les étapes de production et les acteurs à mobiliser
Les différentes étapes de la production et de la diffusion du livre peuvent être repensées, en engageant une grande diversité d’acteurs : le papetier, l’imprimeur, la librairie, le bibliothécaire, l’auteur, l’éditeur, le distributeur. Ces acteurs, s'ils ont des fonctions différentes selon les secteurs, restent exhaustif de la pluralité d'acteurs auxquels sont confrontées les structures culturelles dans leur processus de création.
From design, printing and shaping, promotion, dissemination, and distribution, all stages of book production and dissemination are resource-intensive and greenhouse gas emitters. Actions to reduce the environmental impact of the book sector can therefore be implemented at each step.
Best practices of the Syndicat national de l'édition
The National Publishing Union in its “ Environmental charter for book publishing » identified good publishing practices:
- Eco-design materially
- Paper : certified or recycled upon purchase order
- Paper carbon footprint
- Printing and shaping : choice of closer printers, and certifications
- Promotion : think about POP eco-responsible
- Inventory management : rethinking the printing process
- Transport : distribution, recycling, and plastic reduction
To learn more about how the book industry is concerned with ecology, you can continue your reading on our page "Rethinking the book industry".
Initiatives & good practices
The Augures Lab Scénogrrrraphie is a collaborative program to think about eco-scenography in the field of live performance and exhibition. It aims to make professionals collaborate on these topics and their projects, the challenge being to make them increase in skills so that they can eco-design more easily.
The website of the national network of resource and recycling offers a search engine mapped of all its structures in France.
The project is a platform connecting people who no longer need sets, furniture, costumes or technical equipment with professionals or individuals for a second life in their productions.
All of the exhibition and scenography materials have been recovered for reuse within the CMN. As part ofGreen Alternatives The Réserve des Arts has received funding to consolidate and increase its impact by amplifying the actions it already takes to benefit the circular economy in the arts, notably by increasing its action towards professionals. In IDF and PACA, the objective is to advance good reuse practices by: increasing the circularity of reuse materials through the development of the community of members and knowledge of materials, measuring the social and environmental impact of the structure, experimenting with good practices with the southern antenna in the PACA Region to test a first replication of the action outside IDF, sharing content with the Réseau national des ressourceries artistiques et culturelles (RESSAC) for wider dissemination of the solution.
The project financed by Green Alternatives, aims to further develop the model of Recupethèques already existing, by federating the different actors present on the territory, and by stimulating additional research and experimentation around creation by reuse in the broad sense. The project will thus contribute to: perpetuate and facilitate the existing model through digital tools (a web App, "Mycelium" and a shared platform, "Récupédia") and promote research around eco-design and creation through reuse, and disseminate experiments in a series of conferences.
The Ressourcerie du cinéma, located in Ile-de-France, aims to save film sets before they become waste and to offer them for reuse through an online catalogue. They can then be purchased or rented. As part of'Green Alternatives, Ressourcerie du Cinéma (LRDC) received funding to improve its management: the reuse and recycling of film set elements, with the rental and sale of materials; the rental of pre-assembled and storage space; training offers and a small research laboratory.
The Ressourcerie du spectacle offers the same type of service as that of the cinema but for professionals of the performing arts. As part ofGreen Alternatives the Ressourcerie du spectacle has received funding to consolidate its collection, revaluation and technical support activities for the organization of events; enhance its research and development activities; create an operational collection module for the Dolibarr ERP.
As part ofGreen Alternatives, the Ressourcerie culturelle received funding to develop innovative solutions for the economy of functionality (objective: to replace the concept of selling the property with that of selling the use of the property), to improve the management of materials used in the cultural and event sectors. The project consists of four actions: the rental of materials,
the improvement and optimization of goods in an eco-design logic, the sharing of goods (mutualization), the application of a common investment policy, including group purchases.
Artstock is a resource centre located in Occitania that collects and enhances theatre and event materials. The platform emphasizes the development of a circular economy within the performing arts. As part ofGreen Alternatives, ArtStocK received funding to structure its upcycling activity to accelerate the recovery of the material, using reuse as a lever for integration by economic activity. The objective is to make Artstock a tool of the territory dedicated: to the promotion of SSE with the valorization of materials and the deployment of professional integration actions in its workshop.
As part ofGreen Alternatives, the project received funding for the creation of a space for collection, experimentation, innovation and creation in the field of visual arts from the output of local businesses and crafts. Invested by students, teachers and external audiences, the TALM Chutothèque aims to be both a shop-workshop, a resource center and an exhibition space.
The cartels were handwritten. Garbage bags showed the waste generated by the creation of the exhibition.
It was totally designed in reuse of the old exhibitions of La Villette. It brought together the creations of young graduates of the largest schools of fashion arts.
The Juno Beach Centre, named after one of the landing beaches, reused furniture from its old exhibition (screws, fasteners, showcases, furniture, wood panels) to save between 4 to 5 cubic meters of wood, and also allowed the use of more responsible materials for certain elements (kakemonos made of recycled paper, recycled cardboard panels), without color printing, and the passage by environmentally responsible providers such as Imprim'Vert.
The museum has carried out a study on all of its waste and included in certain exhibition specifications the obligation to reuse picture rails and scenography.
The Opéra de Lyon organized a sale open to the public of thousands of costumes used in its old shows. In addition, as part of the Investments for the Future project Green Alternatives, it coordinates with the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, the Opéra National de Paris, the Théâtre du Châtelet and the Théâtre royal de la Monnaie in Brussels to experiment with standard set structures. The approach illustrates an eco-design approach: input calculator (material, wood origin, etc.), processing processes, with measurement of the impact on the tours (what useful volume to process); outputs (waste): everything is unscrewed and reused. Other companies cycle (very low impact per festival-goer). The project consists of 4 types of activities: implementation of standard solutions in the construction of decorative elements, evaluations, documentation (on organizational, managerial and human impacts, and the project process), dissemination and communication.
This festival is organized with a maximum of eco-recovery equipment. It shares, with other festivals, common flocked cups, which the spectators keep, promotes soft mobility by organizing a bike challenge, by setting up partnerships with local bus networks...
Recycling of waste can be promoted in the audiovisual sector. The series The Black Baron has measured its impact by using a service provider, saving money during its last shoot of 21,000 cups and 9,000 bottle caps.
Art of Change 21 links art and major environmental issues. Since its creation in Paris in 2014 in the perspective of the COP21, the association highlights the role of artists and creativity as accelerators of the ecological transition. It acts internationally, and publishes a blog and a newsletter on art and ecology. The platform also offers objects or materials whose museums, galleries and other structures no longer have the utility, allowing to declutter the reserves without throwing away, and find through the platform donations from other institutions to avoid the purchase of new and the ecological and financial costs that result.
Parisian libraries have launched in 2021 a lot within their furniture markets for reused furniture.
As part ofGreen Alternatives, MPO France has been funded to develop an end-of-life management service for stocks of products destined for destruction (including products from labels, record companies, video publishers, leisure software publishers and their distributors) - all in an environmentally responsible way. It is also a research and development project on two axes to reduce the ecological footprint of vinyl records by reusing vinyl material to produce new records, reducing the use of petroleum-based PVC by introducing a dose of renewable bio-based material.
As part ofGreen Alternatives, the company was funded to continue its eco-designed and energy-independent enclosure project with integrated solar panels. The challenges related to financing were mainly related to the increase of commercial strength and production to democratize these solutions in a changing market. In particular, it involved financing: positions, participation in trade fairs and marketing or promotional actions, the production of machines dedicated to partners, the amortization of production tools, a life cycle analysis (LCA) solutions and AFNOR type certification.
Actors of the event sector engaged in ecodesign approaches on the territory of the Nantes Metropolis and the Pays de la Loire region. Their network provides free online resources, organises an annual meeting, leads working groups, informs about available training, organizes National study days "Territories of responsible events" and animates a label "committed eco event".
The Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille is committed to the ecological transition and has shared a guide to decipher how these efforts have been implemented. It recalls the major actions to be carried out in eco-design: rethinking, reducing and replacing upstream, and reusing, recycling and repairing downstream.
This association created by actors of the fashion sector, is committed to the implementation of concrete actions in the sector for a more responsible fashion. It consists of working groups, and organizes events. It also has a toolbox (self-diagnosis, news, reports, studies, practical guides, webinars, podcasts, etc.) on its website.
This festival around cinema, arts and sciences aims to develop new scenarios that preserve the common good, through the presentation of screenings, meetings, exchanges, round tables and conferences, exhibitions, workshops, shows, concerts, school trips... The objective? To bring together actors in the sector to rethink production methods.
This association aims to help music players, and especially DJs, to participate in more eco-responsible events, with the use of 0 plastic drivers for example.
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