The unfortunate truth is that food waste in our business is inevitable. In 2022, BurkleHagen made it our mission to offset our environmental impact by putting new sustainability procedures into effect.
We started composting all food waste with Rust Belt Riders in March 2022, composting 64-128 gallons per week.
Conversely, we are now generating about half the trash we used to each day.
We receive soil from Rust Belt (made from our community’s compost) for the BurkleHagen rooftop gardens.
We grow vegetables in our rooftop garden and then donate the majority of our rooftop bounty to local centers in need.
We make weekly donations of all unused food from shoots to local centers in need.
We invested in tablets for the studio kitchen, to eliminate printing decks and other shoot documents for our food stylists.
Photographers now use digital copies of decks and other shoot documents on set, and do not receive printed copies.
In 2021 we went through approximately 10,000 sheets of printer paper; we are on track to cut that number in half in 2022.
At the 2022 BurkleHagen Studio Party, all plates, cups, napkins, and flatware were all fully compostable.
BurkleHagen makes monthly contributions to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, and our employees volunteer with the Food Bank.
The 2022 Studio Party was designed to benefit the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. We raised a total of $5000 and 444 pounds of food donations, thanks to the generous support of our friends. Every dollar donated to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank can help provide enough food for four nutritious meals for those in need – which means we helped provide 20,000 meals for our neighbors in need.
