How Hollywood art directors are working to keep their sets out of the landfill

Props and sets are available to rent at EcoSet in Los Angeles. It's a resource for the creative industry that implements zero waste practices on productions and events. (Tracy Nguyen for NPR)

For decades, it was standard practice in Hollywood for art departments to build sets for movies and TV shows from scratch, and then break them down at the end of production and haul the pieces off to the landfill.

"The dumpsters just line up at the end of the show," said veteran Hollywood art director Karen Steward of many productions she worked on, from the 1988 high school comedy Johnny Be Good, to the 2013 political action thriller Olympus Has Fallen. "And there's no talking about it, because it's time to get off the soundstage."