A market-leading company founded in Edinburgh has joined the fight to help create a more sustainable City.

LS Productions is the UK’s largest photo and film service production company, supporting their clients’ shoots country-wide, based out of Edinburgh, London, Manchester. Their specialities include service production for fashion campaigns and editorials, car and whisky commercials, music videos, sports talent shoots and TV and film.

Recent clients include Adidas, Art Partner, Barbour, BMW, Mango, StellaMcCartney, Porsche, Pulse Films, Ralph Lauren, Stink Films, Somesuch, The Gentlewoman and The Outnet.

Laura Macpherson, Office Manager at LS Productions said: “We decided we should make this process as straightforward as possible, and that begins by looking at all the items we use in our offices that could be re-used – for example filling up soap bottles, and we also thought about the supplies themselves, making sure we switched to an eco-friendly alternative if necessary.

“For the bigger picture, we created a carbon log sheet to capture information across all departments of the company, helping us be mindful of the way we go about our business. For example, we don’t take flights within the UK and we question how many people we need to send on every trip.

“We also reviewed all of our utility and supplier contracts to ensure we are using companies which are environmentally-friendly, enabling us to reduce our carbon footprint simply by choosing the right taxi company or waste company for example.

“On top of those actions, we encourage vehicle sharing, and we have joined the Cycle to Work scheme, giving staff access to reduced-cost cycles through PAYE. On set, we’re working on eliminating the use of single use plastic bottles at all our shoots, and we compost and recycle our waste wherever we can find suppliers who can support us (not always easy when you’re working in more remote locations). We also donate any left-over items, such as costume or props, to local charities.

“The scale of opportunity is a big one, and it’s something that should be explored by all companies. It might not be that you are able to be circular within your own company depending on your sector, but there are great chances to collaborate with and support other local businesses in creating mini circles across your activities.

“The key is to identify quick fixes and small areas where improvements can be made: looking at the supplies we use in our kitchen was the catalyst for us. That initial research snowballed and become part of a much larger plan to improve sustainability across the board.”

The Scottish Government has set world-leading environmental targets, but we would like to see even more being done. “Individuals and small businesses can only go so far. What we need are legislative changes, as well as more support on how to get started on complex areas – such as carbon foot printing.”