Image: AFP
Thanks to the world’s first bioplastic vinyl record, people can listen to their favorite songs without stressing over toxic waste. Created by UK company Evolution Music, these bioplastic records use eco-friendly materials, like sugars and starches, for production, and hopefully, they would replace the toxic PVC vinyl. Since there is no use of toxic oil and gas, these bioplastic records won’t generate toxic waste at the time of manufacturing and at the end of life.
The climate change advocacy NGO Music Declares Emergency is now endorsing this new bioplastic vinyl. According to NGO founder Lewis Jamieson, eliminating the major pollution elements from the music industry can provide us with an alternative to guilt-free vinyl records.
Even Greenpeace – a global network of independent campaigning organizations to combat environmental pollution – describes the toxic, chlorine-based compounds generated during the manufacturing of PVC as highly destructive to the environment. Such chemicals are built up in the air, water, and food chain.
Image: Evolution Music
The recent increase in the vinyl sale in the United States (which exceeded around $1 billion last year) has highlighted this issue. After the vinyl rebirth in the mid-2000s, the record labels started using PVC to create music records. But the materials used for their production are questionable in terms of environmental safety.
Kyle Devine, who wrote the book ‘Decomposed’ on the environmental impact of the music industry, has stated that PVC used for 90 percent of UV vinyl records in 2015 was bought from a Thai company. That company was spreading pollution into the Bangkok river. Hence, PVC is a bad plastic to produce. Moreover, it is hard to dispose of, decompose, or recycle.
Therefore, a sustainable solution was needed to reduce the climatic impact of the music industry. Even digital data consumes energy, as it takes up too much space. Considering the scope and scale of the music industry today, it has an immense environmental impact than in earlier days. Therefore, the new sustainable bioplastic vinyl record seems to bring a ray of hope.
Image: Cotton Bro
Evolution Music distributed the first 20 bioplastic vinyl records through a prize draw. These eco-friendly records feature a collection by up-and-coming musicians, such as American singer Angel Olsen and Bicep. While the testing of these bioplastic records got delayed for over five years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company is not creating regular sustainable records now.
Via: News18