Film Queenstown has hit back at claims an environmental initiative involving the $100 million Xmen Origins: Wolverine film amounts to ‘‘tokenism''.
The initiative, which would see the project used as a case study for ways to reduce the environmental impact of film productions, was announced on Monday by the Queenstown Lakes District Council, Film Queenstown and Woz Productions - the makers of the Wolverine movie.
Guardians member Neil Clay ton, whose group aims to protect the Queenstown Gardens responded by claiming the tim ing of the announcement amounted to ‘‘damage control' following last week's revelations Woz Productions stored explosives next door to the Queenstown Gardens.
Yesterday, Film Queenstown manager Kevin Jennings rejected the claims, saying the green initiative had been devised in December, when Woz Productions was approached by council staff and agreed to become part of a joint venture.
An announcement about the initiative had been scheduled for last week, but was delayed in an effort to avoid fallout from the explosives find, Mr Jen nings said.
The initiative aimed to pro mote a ‘‘green screen'' ethic with film companies encour aged to take steps - such as recycling wherever possible - to reduce their environmental impact.
Council recycling specialists would be visiting Wolverine sets around the district and offering advice.
The work would culminate with the development of waste minimisation guidelines that could then be adopted as part of the council's formal resource consent process.
