Secondhand Plastic Goodness

We had a light day Tuesday. The Danish Environment Minister cancelled a previous appointment but we still wrangled an interview with the Danish EPA. We arrived early to scout locations and after deciding upon a lovely backdrop of shallow canals and enormous government buildings our guest, Helge, informed us that - due to his allergies - the interview could not be held outside. Fair enough.



In less than 20 minutes, Gad set up a full light kit in a corner of the office as I stalled the guest - an impressive, sweaty, nerve-wracking feat. In the background sat a life-sized Lego parrot and a PVC globe - a gift to Helge from the plastic industry. We stayed off the political, focusing on recycling numbers, the rise in disposable containers and the active regulation of toxins in synthetics. It was a fine interview with much candor. Unfortunately we rushed with lights still hot to try and connect with Carlsberg.

But it was not to be.

Carlsberg called and postponed the shoot until the following day. In an effort to not miss out on the remainder of the day our efforts turned towards the administrative. Getting low on tape stock, we went on a crazy journey through Copenhagen looking for a store that had a reasonable amount of tape for a reasonable price. And we came across a store called.........



Then we found the tape store.

The day was capped off with a marathon drive looking for the FedEx office to send shot tapes back home. Deciphering the small suburban streets of Copenhagen was tough, but trying to decipher our scribbled directions was the real challenge. It was an early end to the evening as tomorrow would be the true test of our professional endurance.

Wednesday. 5am wake up. 3 hour drive to Fredericia - main bottling plant for Carlsberg and its brands in Europe. They also bottle Coke products.



We were most interested in filming the refillable plastic containers. These bottles are used up to 10-20 times before they are "recycled" into other secondary products. The bottles are sorted by size and colour, inspected for microscopic defects and foreign contaminants (think oil, urine, tobacco, garlic) with a robotic nose! Then they're washed, re-filled, labeled, packed and shipped. Quite an amazing operation to see, really.



So should we applaud Carlsberg's actions? Absolutely. They are a European leader in reclamation, recycling and sustainability. We are only saddened by the fact that "consumer trends" tend to dictate future progress. As we've mentioned before, "people" don't want scratched bottles and if a competitor's bottle is pristine, the clean one wins; hence a slow death to refillable PEN plastic and hello to disposable PET...(with a tax)...(in Denmark).

Hats off to Lars and Jens for giving us great access (we apologize for greatly extending your original itinerary).

But the day wasn't over yet.

Two hours north we connected with a supermarket chain that collects cans, glass and plastic bottles to become part of the Dansk Return System (See blog entry: Recycle This!).



Jon, the manager, was a great sport to play it up for the camera and we definitely turned some heads with improvised dolly shots.



And yet the day continued.



Three hours further north we reached our final destination...for the day. Skagen is a small village with a large port at the northernmost part of continental Europe. Tomorrow we film a new technology that recycles old fishing nets and plastic fish buckets. Sounds dull? It recently won top environmental honors from the UN.

Stay tuned.

Out.

G+I