Rethinking Waste in the Media and Entertainment Industry
Lagos Climate Network (LCN) brought members of its growing climate community together for an insightful and thought-provoking Lagos Mixer featuring Mr. Soji Ogunnaike, with a conversation focused on an often-overlooked sustainability challenge: waste in the media and entertainment industry.
The gathering created a space for members of the climate community to look beyond the traditional sectors associated with sustainability and examine how environmental responsibility can be embedded within creative industries, media production, events, and entertainment.
At the heart of the conversation was a simple but important question:
What happens to the waste generated when we create the content, productions and experiences that entertain millions of people?
Looking Behind the Scenes
Media and entertainment are powerful forces for shaping culture, influencing behaviour, and telling stories. Yet, behind every production set, event, concert, film shoot, or creative project lies a range of environmental impacts that can easily go unnoticed.
From production materials and temporary installations to food packaging, plastics, set construction materials, transportation, energy consumption, and event waste, creative productions can generate significant amounts of waste.
During the Mixer, the conversation highlighted how waste management is frequently treated as an afterthought across production sets and events, with limited systems in place for reduction, reuse, recycling, and repurposing.
This presents not only an environmental challenge, but also an opportunity for the industry to rethink how productions are planned and delivered.
Moving Beyond Waste Disposal
A central idea emerging from the conversation was the need to move beyond simply asking:
“How do we dispose of this waste?”
Instead, organisations can begin asking:
“How can we prevent this waste from being generated in the first place?”
And where waste cannot be avoided:
“How can we reuse, recover, recycle, or repurpose it?”
This shift represents an important transition from a traditional linear approach to a more circular model.
Reduce
Production teams can identify unnecessary materials and consumption before a project begins.
Reuse
Materials, equipment, props, sets, packaging and other resources can potentially be used across multiple productions.
Repurpose
Materials that are no longer required for their original purpose can become inputs for other creative or commercial applications.
Recycle
Materials that cannot be reused or repurposed can be properly separated and directed into recycling streams.
The goal is to make sustainability part of the production process itself, rather than something considered only after an event or production has ended.
Collaboration as a Missing Link
Another important issue raised during the discussion was the lack of collaboration across sectors.
Climate and sustainability challenges rarely fit neatly into one industry.
Waste generated by the entertainment industry, for example, intersects with:
- Waste management
- Energy
- Manufacturing
- Logistics
- Fashion
- Construction
- Technology
- Finance
- Media
- Public policy
When these sectors operate independently, opportunities for shared solutions can easily be missed.
The discussion therefore highlighted the need to move from working in isolation toward collaboration for shared impact.
For Nigeria and the wider African continent, stronger collaboration between industries can create opportunities to develop solutions that are both environmentally beneficial and commercially viable.
Where Climate Finance Comes In
The conversation also explored an important connection between climate finance and the creative economy.
Climate finance is often associated with large-scale infrastructure projects, renewable energy, agriculture, transport, and other traditionally recognised climate sectors.
However, the discussion demonstrated that there is an opportunity to think more broadly.
Climate finance can potentially support:
- Sustainable production systems
- Green technologies for creative businesses
- Energy-efficient production
- Circular economy solutions
- Sustainable event infrastructure
- Waste-reduction initiatives
- Climate-focused media and storytelling
This broader perspective is important because the transition to a low-carbon and circular economy will require participation from every sector of society.
The Power of Media to Shape Climate Action
The media and entertainment industry has another unique role beyond reducing its own environmental footprint.
It has the power to shape narratives.
Films, documentaries, television, digital content, music, advertising and other creative forms of communication influence how people understand the world around them.
This gives the creative sector an enormous opportunity to tell stories that:
- Increase climate awareness
- Make sustainability accessible
- Encourage behavioural change
- Highlight African climate solutions
- Showcase innovators
- Influence public conversations
- Inspire collective action
As the conversation at the Mixer highlighted, the stories we tell can influence the world we build.
A sustainable media industry can therefore contribute to climate action in two ways:
By reducing its own environmental impact
and
By using its influence to inspire wider environmental action.
The Importance of Cross-Sector Education
One of the key insights from the conversation was the need for greater cross-sector education.
The intersection between sustainability, energy, waste, and media remains relatively unexplored.
Creative professionals need greater access to sustainability knowledge.
Climate professionals need to understand how creative industries operate.
Production companies need practical tools for reducing environmental impact.
Energy professionals can help the creative sector identify opportunities for cleaner and more efficient energy use.
Waste-management companies can develop solutions specifically designed for production sets and events.
Financial institutions can explore mechanisms for supporting these innovations.
This exchange of knowledge can unlock opportunities that may not emerge when industries operate within their own silos.
Building a More Sustainable Creative Industry
The Lagos Mixer demonstrated that climate conversations do not have to remain confined to traditional environmental sectors.
Sustainability can—and must—be part of conversations about culture, entertainment, media, fashion, technology, business and everyday life.
For Nigeria’s creative industry, this represents an opportunity to rethink the way productions and events are designed.
Imagine production sets where materials are designed for reuse.
Events where waste is separated at source.
Entertainment venues powered by cleaner energy.
Creative businesses incorporating circular procurement practices.
Films and media productions that communicate climate solutions to millions of people.
These possibilities demonstrate that sustainability is not simply a constraint on creativity.
It can become a new source of creativity and innovation.
A Community Conversation with Broader Implications
The Lagos Mixer with Mr. Soji Ogunnaike was more than a conversation about waste.
It was a reminder that solving climate challenges requires us to look at the connections between industries rather than treating them as isolated problems.
Waste is connected to production.
Production is connected to energy.
Energy is connected to finance.
Finance is connected to investment.
Media is connected to public perception.
And public perception can influence behaviour and ultimately shape the direction of society.
These connections are where opportunities for meaningful climate action emerge.
Looking Ahead
As Nigeria’s media and entertainment industry continues to grow, sustainability will become an increasingly important part of how productions, events, businesses and creative projects operate.
The challenge is to begin embedding sustainability before the cameras start rolling, before the event doors open, and before waste is created.
The opportunity is even greater:
To build a creative industry that does not only entertain and inform, but also demonstrates what a more sustainable future can look like.
Through conversations such as the Lagos Mixer, Lagos Climate Network continues to create spaces where professionals can exchange ideas, challenge existing practices, and discover opportunities for collaboration across sectors.
Because climate action is not the responsibility of one industry.
It is a collective responsibility—and every sector has a role to play.