Why Vinyl Records Can’t Go Green Without Getting More Expensive

The world is shifting towards environmental sustainability; we want to leave the world in a better place than we met it. Plastics are one of the toxic materials that cause irreparable damage to the environment, especially the Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) used to make Vinyl Records. A global environment campaigning organization, Green Peace, claims  PVC is “the most environmentally damaging of plastics.”

For this reason, Harm Theunisse, owner of Green Vinyl Records, has decided to disrupt the Vinyl industry by using recyclable plastic, polyethylene terephthalate (Pet), to make Vinyl. However, he claims the only downside is that the records become more expensive. Sharon George, a senior lecturer in the sustainability department of Keele University, opines that this is a worthy sacrifice to make. “We need to stop thinking about the cost at the till and think about that cost to the planet and to our health,” she says. 

The future of Vinyl Records

Harm’s journey started seven years ago; he and his team have been working effortlessly to create a new generation of pressing machines that consume 90% less energy than the traditional machines yet give greater output. “This machine can do almost 40% more capacity than the traditional plants, too. The pressing here is both faster and better for our planet,” he revealed. 

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He stated that his motivation is the future generation, “It’s for the kids; our world is heating up.” A claim, Sharon says, is “a real step in the right direction.” She adds, “The barrier to finding eco-friendly alternatives to PVC has always been the desire to match the same rich sound quality while maintaining the hardness and durability of plastic.”

Fears of the unknown

However, the owner of a traditional vinyl record-making company in Amsterdam who was with Harm during the initial phase of the project, Ton Vermeulen, doubts the profitability of the novel technology. “I think it’s the unknown aspects, and the costs involved to put high investment in – because these machines are massively more expensive than the presses we use over here, I’m not saying there is no space for such a new technique, but I have doubts if companies are going [to go] for it,” he said. 

Despite Ton’s fears, people are willing to bet on Harm’s technology as he signed his first order from Warner Music and will press Tom Odell’s new album.