{"id":2446131,"date":"2026-06-05T10:18:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2446131"},"modified":"2026-06-05T10:18:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:18:34","slug":"vinyl-records-are-hurting-the-environment-these-labels-are-helping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/vinyl-records-are-hurting-the-environment-these-labels-are-helping\/","title":{"rendered":"Vinyl records are hurting the environment. These labels are helping"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sorry to rain on your all-analog parade.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that vinyl records\u2019 resurgence has hit a new plateau, outselling CDs for the first time since 1987 as of 2022, according to a report<\/u><\/a> from the Recording Industry Assn. of America. Three years later, its year-end report<\/u><\/a> flaunts another statistic: Vinyl record sales surpassed $1 billion in 2025 \u2014 the first time since 1983.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s an inevitable downside to anything that\u2019s partially made of liquid dinosaur bones. Modern vinyl records are crafted with PVC resin, which makes up more than 75%<\/a> of an average disk The synthetic polymer itself is made of chlorine and fossil fuel-derived feed stock.<\/p>\n

To put its harm in perspective, a first-of-its-kind report<\/u><\/a> from Vinyl Alliance, published in June 2024, found that 50% of a record\u2019s carbon emissions come from this resin. The carbon footprint of a single LP was estimated to be roughly equal to the pollution a gas-powered vehicle emits<\/a> over a three-mile trip. It adds up quick, considering that 46.8 million new records were sold last year.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Thankfully, it\u2019s not all grim.<\/p>\n

Organizations like Music Declares Emergency and the Music Climate Pact initiative are coming together to address the issue. A campaign by the groups \u2014 in collaboration with record labels and distribution teams at Secretly Group, Exceleration Music, Warp Records, Ninja Tune and Beggars Group \u2014 features titles pressed on 100% reclaimed material.<\/p>\n

The release, set in tandem with World Environment Day on Friday, boasts marquee titles such as Elliott Smith\u2019s \u201cRoman Candle,\u201d Bon Iver\u2019s \u201cFor Emma, Forever Ago\u201d and Dinosaur Jr.\u2019s \u201cYou\u2019re Living All Over Me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we found talking to a lot of our artists and to customers is that \u2026 they are concerned about the environment, and they want to find ways to reduce their footprint,\u201d says Ben Swanson, co-founder of both Secretly Group and the Independent Record Pressing plant in Bordentown, N.J., where the LPs are made. \u201cIt\u2019s about 16% less footprint than the traditional piece of vinyl.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Soren Smith working at Independent Record Pressing in Bordentown, N.J., on May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

(Dutch Doscher \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Largely, it\u2019s been people like Swanson who have fully committed to the cause. He says that during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, in an \u201cactivist moment,\u201d several labels signed onto the Music Climate Pact, declaring their intention to reduce their emissions and be better stewards of Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt had almost no teeth to it,\u201d Swanson explains. \u201cA lot of people signed it, posted something on Instagram, and it sat there for a few years. For us, it was pretty frustrating \u2026 it felt very perfunctory.\u201d<\/p>\n

His work continued, along with a few others, thanks to support from Murmur, an organization designed to support labels and industry names, effectuating the commitments made when the Music Climate Pact was signed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re more doers than sayers,\u201d Swanson says. \u201cWe\u2019ve really been experimenting with what we\u2019re calling \u2018Revinyl\u2019 \u2014 post-industrial, pre-consumer, recycled vinyl as a means to reduce our footprint at IRP.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is what some of Friday\u2019s release is made of \u2014 all the trimmings, tidbits and overstock that would otherwise end up in landfills or on the factory floor. For the time being, it certainly won\u2019t solve the climate cost of vinyl records, but it helps to mitigate it. <\/p>\n

Between 2024 and 2025, total units produced at Independent Record Pressing increased by 41% while emissions \u2014 which also benefited from lower-carbon transportation \u2014 decreased<\/a> by 34%.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is, if you can make those records 16% more efficient and also show fans of those records \u2026 that it is viable, maybe it makes it a little bit easier next year when we go out to ask other artists to jump on board,\u201d Swanson explains. \u201cWe\u2019re not making records that are just going to go sit on the shelf \u2014 these are records we\u2019re continually repressing all the time anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, Ian Stanton, head of sustainability at Beggars Group, was among the first to sign the pact in 2021. His role was created five years ago to give indie labels a voice in light of minimal resources and capabilities. Though these roles do exist at larger labels, he says they have \u201cslightly different drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to records, the pure plastic pollution that comes from them is also a concern. When old records make it to a landfill, they\u2019re not only likely to outlive the site, but can also leach plasticizers, a Keele University report found<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cVinyl is not like a single-use plastic; we don\u2019t throw it away after one listen. We treasure it, we pass it on through generations, and people have a real connection with it,\u201d he says. \u201cBut like any other product, there are ways of making it more sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

He refers to certain plastics, such as shrink wrap, as the most \u201cvisible\u201d aspect of vinyl record pollution to consumers. From a collector\u2019s point of view, shrink wrap can actually increase the value of a record. Though there has been discourse over the years around whether this can actually damage the sleeve, many sellers champion an \u201cin the shrink\u201d label as they mark up prices.<\/p>\n

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\"Pink, <\/picture>\n
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Splatter-patterned records arrive at the trim station at Independent Record Pressing in Bordentown, N.J., on May 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

(Dutch Doscher \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Other visible aspects, such as the paper sleeves in which the records are housed, are also harmful. However, Swanson says that swapping those for recycled materials outputs a relatively negligible difference in emissions impact, largely due to the process behind producing them.<\/p>\n

For the time being, vinyl records made from reclaimed materials are the best that companies like Swanson\u2019s can do, though they\u2019re are always on the lookout for other, viable options for improving their footprint. As an example, they\u2019re actively experimenting with how existing record material can help them.<\/p>\n

What can the beat-up, worn-out records at your local thrift store do to dodge a landfill and keep the Earth spinning? As it stands, not much.<\/p>\n

Stanton lists an array of challenges, including outdated materials, modern production regulations and contaminants.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose what we need with PVC for records is a really high-quality, contamination-free material to get that sound reproduction,\u201d he explains. \u201cWhen you bring in stuff from that post-consumer environment, you\u2019ve got to make sure there\u2019s no contamination in there, because you\u2019re going to end up with sound quality issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all in process,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

For now, they look to fix the most immediate problems first, such as freight emissions, where Beggars Group has converted the vast majority of its shipping operations to sea freight, a far less harmful alternative compared with air freight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to look at the full life cycle \u2026 not only thinking from the cradle to the grave, but from the point where the raw materials are extracted at the beginning,\u201d Stanton says. \u201cThis life cycle analysis now looks at all different environmental indicators on this \u2014 the chemical usage, the water usage, and the end-of-life impacts on that side of things.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sorry to rain on your all-analog parade. It\u2019s no secret that vinyl records\u2019 resurgence has hit a new plateau, outselling CDs for the first time since 1987 as of 2022, according to a report from the Recording Industry Assn. of America. Three years later, its year-end report flaunts another statistic: Vinyl record sales surpassed $1 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2446133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2446131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Vinyl-records-are-hurting-the-environment-These-labels-are-helping.com2F3b2Fd92F6eb6b1394ad698b24067b43c.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2446131"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2446134,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446131\/revisions\/2446134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2446133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2446131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2446131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2446131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}