Film Shoot in the Dump

“Silence on set and action” instructed Cecilia our young film director. The set comprised of a pink backdrop sheet, one talented actor, our amazing multi-skilled WasteLess team, and a drunken local who decided to join the fun. The location of this particular film was in the middle of the huge, stinky Pondicherry dump.

Our determined film crew bravely hiked through the sludge of the landfill in order to get to an ideal location to shoot. In the midst of organising all the needed equipment for the project, our very own Chandrah Nusselein forgot her boots, essential for this messy hike. So she was forced to rely on her ability to slalom any swampy areas and medical waste deposits. The conditions were not ideal as we had a lot of wind making recording of the film difficult and causing our flashy pink cloth backdrop to flutter. Furthermore, the local drunk gave us trouble by threatening to throw us out from the dumpsite. However, we managed to turn him around by emphasising that our shoot was for, “educational purposes only!”. To the confusion of the men, women, and children waste pickers going about their daily routine of collecting valuable scraps of waste from the dump, we were determined to get all the filming footage we needed.

What better way of teaching kids (and adults) about valuable recyclable waste than contrasting the items that can be recycled to the fetid dump they would otherwise be destined for. If everyone would separate the trash in their homes, use their organic waste to make compost, and sell their recyclables, 80% of waste that we were standing on would not be there. Moreover, the average household could earn 50 to 115 rupees a month from selling their recyclables.

After being in the dump for several hours we became a little more immune to the stink of the rotting waste and the toxic fumes of the smouldering fires. The atmosphere on ‘set’ was light and fun, which just goes to show that you can even make an afternoon spent standing on garbage fun if you are surrounded by the right people.

The short clip is in the works and we cannot wait to share it with you!