Filming without a trace: B Corp, zero plastics, and why set is where it's decided.

A set is speed, pressure, improvisation, tight schedules, decisions made on the fly. It's a system designed to solve, not to question itself. In that context, sustainability often seemed incompatible with what was possible. Until it stops being so.

At Selva, sustainability didn't start as a marketing strategy. It started with something much simpler: looking at what was left at the end of every shoot day and accepting it was indefensible. Mountains of plastic bottles at wrap. Catering full of disposables. Art department materials used once and discarded. It wasn't an exception — it was the industry norm. The turning point was understanding that this wasn't about offsetting the impact, but about redesigning the way we produce.

✦"The question is no longer whether you can produce sustainably. It's how much longer the industry can keep producing without doing so."✦

All of this has a destination: B Corp. B Corp is the most demanding international certification that exists today for companies committed to social and environmental impact. It's granted by B Lab, a nonprofit founded in 2006. In Latin America it operates through Sistema B, under the name Empresa B. The B Impact Assessment measures five areas: governance, workers, community, environment and customers. To get certified you have to score above 80 out of 200, amend the company's legal bylaws to include an impact purpose, and commit to recertifying every three years under increasingly strict criteria.

Today there are more than 4,000 certified B Corps in 77 countries. In Mexico the number is still small — around 70 companies. In the Mexican audiovisual industry, no production company has gotten there yet. Selva wants to be the first.

The centerpiece is the Zero Single-Use Plastics policy. The first real step, the one that changes the set from the very first call sheet, was drafting and signing our Zero Single-Use Plastics Policy. It's not a manifesto. It's an operational document, with a regulatory framework, technical definitions, department-by-department guidelines, explicit penalties and incentives.

The policy is grounded in Mexico City's Solid Waste Law, which since January 2021 bans the sale and distribution of single-use plastics. It follows SEDEMA's guidelines for certifying compostable materials under the international standards ASTM D6400 and EN 13432. And it's complemented by the international best practices described in Albert-BAFTA, the global standard for sustainability in audiovisual production.

On set, this translates into very concrete decisions. Water stops being solved with cases of bottles and instead relies on 19-liter jugs, portable filtration stations like LifeStraw Max or Bluewater, and 750 ml stainless-steel bottles assigned to every crew member. We keep a base stock of 120 numbered bottles with a refundable deposit. Catering runs on reusable steel or ceramic tableware. Waste is separated at the source, color-coded: green for organics and compost, blue for recyclables, gray for landfill.

The role that changed everything was the Green PA. A set doesn't run on rules alone. It runs on culture. And culture is built with clear responsibility. That's why every Selva production has a figure dedicated exclusively to sustainability: the Green Production Assistant. The role isn't symbolic. It's operational. They validate the supply list before any purchase, give the crew a ten-minute induction during the Safety Meeting, keep the daily waste log, supervise catering. They have real authority: they can stop a service that doesn't comply, confiscate a PET bottle that enters the set, and report to the producer when there are repeat offenses.

Selva's Green PAs take part in internal workshops twice a year and can pursue external certifications like Albert or Green Film Shooting.

Compliance is real and has consequences. A policy without consequences is theater. Ours has teeth. Vendors who deliver single-use plastic products must remove them immediately, replace them with compostable supplies and absorb a 10% penalty on the purchase order. Crew who bring PET bottles onto set have the item confiscated and, on repeat offense, a formal report goes to Production. Productions that reach 95% compliance or higher earn the internal Set Cero PLUSU seal.

And it's not just about plastics: it's the whole system. Every vendor signs Annex S-1 when joining a project. In it they commit to avoiding single-use plastics and using reusable or compostable tableware. It's not optional. Treating vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free diets as a baseline part of the menu, not an exception. Designing an inclusive menu isn't just environmental sustainability — it's respect. Both belong to the same system.

Metrics aren't filed away: they feed the design of the next production. The Green PA sends Selva's leadership a quarterly environmental metrics report, focused on bottles avoided, kilograms of plastic not consumed, kilograms of correctly separated waste, and estimated CO₂ reduction. That data doesn't get archived. It goes back into the operational design of the projects that follow.

The industry is starting to understand it. Brands, platforms and audiences no longer care only about what gets produced. They also care about how. Sustainability stopped being an extra and became part of the conversation. Global brands are starting to request footprint reports in their briefs. International platforms are starting to require sustainability certifications like Albert to validate their production partners.

Why does it matter to do it from within, rather than outsourcing it? Producing without plastics doesn't make a project more expensive. It makes it more efficient. Less waste means less waste handling. Clearer processes reduce errors. More conscious crews make better real-time decisions. Sustainability stops being a burden and becomes an operational advantage.

Where are we today? On the way to B Corp. It's not a fast process. Amending legal bylaws, passing the B Impact Assessment, aligning governance, workers, community, environment and customers under a single measurement system takes sustained discipline. But the destination matters less than the road. What changes the industry isn't the certification. It's deciding to operate as if you already had it. At Selva, the answer was clear: start now. From within. From the set. From operations. Not as a promise. As a system.

Technical sheet. Policy: Zero Single-Use Plastics · Selva Studio. Regulatory framework: Mexico City Solid Waste Law (2021), SEDEMA, ASTM D6400, EN 13432, Screen New Deal · Albert-BAFTA. Scope: productions, offices, corporate events, premieres, brand activations. Key role: Green Production Assistant. Internal seal: Set Cero PLUSU (≥95% compliance). Vendor penalty: 10% of the purchase order. Base equipment: 120 steel bottles (750 ml), water-jug dispensers, portable filtration stations, color-coded waste separation system. Destination: first Mexican advertising production company on the path to B Corp certification.

B Corp certification. Official B Lab · B Lab México · Legal requirements · Sistema B Latin America.

Audiovisual sustainability standards. Albert · BAFTA · Green Film Shooting · Screen New Deal.

Mexico City regulatory framework. SEDEMA · ASTM D6400 standard · EN 13432 standard.

Equipment mentioned. LifeStraw Max · Bluewater.