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Streaming is the most popular way to listen to music, but older formats such as cassettes and vinyl have both seen an increase in their sales in recent years. In fact, vinyl has seen a remarkable increase in sales of 1,427% since 2007, with approximately 4 million records sold in 2018 in the UK alone. Since the vinyl's popularity shows no sign of impending shutdown, it means that more non-recyclable discs will be manufactured, which could have a negative impact on the environment.
Although album covers are generally made of recyclable cardboard, the discs were originally shellac, before non-recyclable vinyl was used instead. Shellac is a natural resin secreted by the female Keram lacca bug, extracted from trees to produce phonograph records. As shellac is not derived from fossil fuels, its carbon footprint was lower than that of modern discs.
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Shellac discs were fragile and susceptible to damage from water and alcohol, so PVC plastic discs were developed as a more durable alternative. Under ideal conditions, with little oxygen and no movement, discarded PVC will probably take centuries to decompose. The environmental conditions of most landfill sites (varying acidity and soil temperature) can cause discarded PVC albums to leach plasticizers (solvents added to plastics to make them more flexible). and more resistant). They can even survive the site itself or escape into the environment as pollutants.
Modern discs usually contain about 135 g of PVC with a carbon footprint of 0.5 kg of carbon dioxide (based on 3.4 kg of CO₂ per 1 kg of PVC). Sales of 4.1 million records would produce 1,900 tonnes of CO₂, excluding transportation and packaging. This is the total carbon footprint of nearly 400 people a year.
In the 80s, the discs were replaced by CDs, which promises durability and better sound quality. The CDs are made of polycarbonate and aluminum in layers, which has a slightly lower environmental impact than PVC. They are made with fewer materials than the discs. However, CDs can not be recycled because they consist of mixed, difficult and uneconomical materials to separate into components for recycling. The CDs were also packaged in fragile polycarbonate cases, which, although they are only one material, are not widely recycled. They are not as indestructible as many people thought, so scratched and damaged discs often ended up in landfills.
Although high-quality CDs can last from 50 to 100 years under ideal conditions, it's a different story for many low-cost, low-cost CDs.
Although high-quality CDs can last from 50 to 100 years under ideal conditions, it's a different story for many low-quality, low-cost CDs. These were easily damaged by direct sun and heat exposure, deformed by rapid changes in temperature, gravity, scratches, fingerprints and stains – which resulted in their ejection .
Current digital technology, however, gives us flawless music quality without physical deterioration. The music is easy to copy and download and can be streamed online without downloading. Since our digital music is less tangible than vinyl or CDs, it must surely be more environmentally friendly.
Although the new formats do not contain materials, this does not mean that they do not have an environmental impact. Downloaded electronic files are stored on cooled active servers. The information is then retrieved and transmitted over the network to a router, which is transferred by wi-fi to our electronic devices. This happens every time we play a track, which costs energy.
Once the vinyl or CD is purchased, you can read it again and again, the only carbon cost resulting from using the turntable. However, if we listen to our music streaming using a hi-fi system, it is estimated that it consumes 107 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, which costs about £ 15.00. A CD player consumes 34.7 kilowatt hours per year and costs £ 5.
If you only listen to a track a few times, streaming is the best option. If you listen several times, a physical copy is better.
So, what is the greenest option? It depends on a lot of things, including the number of times you listen to your music. If you only listen to a track a few times, streaming is the best option. If you listen repeatedly, it is best to use a physical copy: streaming an album over 27 times probably consumes more energy than is needed to produce and make a CD.
If you want to reduce your impact on the environment, vintage vinyl could be a great physical option. For online music, local storage on phones, computers, or LAN drives keeps data closer to the user and will reduce the need for remote remote transmission of remote servers over a network that is greedy. energy.
In a world where more and more of our economy and social relationships are happening online, records and other vintage music formats are counterbalancing this trend. Instead, the rebirth of the record shows us what we want to see more widely in our media and material world – experiences that retain their value and, with loving care, endure. Older music formats have a sense of importance and permanence, they belong to us in a way that our virtual shopping simply does not do.
Whatever the format, it seems that owning copies of our favorite and most valuable music and reading them again and again is perhaps the best option for our environment.
* Sharon George is a lecturer in Environmental Science and Deirdre McKay is a Reader in Geography and Environmental Policy, both at Keele University. This article appeared at the origin on The Conversation and is reissued under a Creative Commons license.
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