Ecovinyl is an eco-friendly option for pressing records without PVC

Regular vinyl records are made with toxic materials not great for the environment. Fortunately, Ecovinyl has found a new solution so we can continue to enjoy vinyl without hurting the planet.

by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0

We as a society made a lot of industrial-strength bad decisions decades ago before anyone was aware that they were going to be bad for the environment. Converting so much of our daily lives to items made and packaged with plastics was one of them, and that includes vinyl records. We’ve fallen in love with vinyl records again, but the downside is that they’re extremely bad for the environment. Luckily there’s a new eco-friendly solution called Evovinyl that could keep us listening to our favorite music without ultimately harming ourselves and others.

Vinyl records are made of PVC, which stands for Poly Vinyl Chloride, because it’s durable so it’s hard to break, and it’s cheap. The problem is that making the PVC releases dioxins that then leak into the air, land and water, contaminating our food chain. PVC is used in records 

There are plenty of other every day items that are made with it though, like sewage and water pipes, packaging that food, drink, and a host of other items comes in, tables, chairs, toothbrushes – you name it. And it’s not recyclable either, so it will eventually end up in a landfill somewhere, where it will leach toxic chemicals into the groundwater.

Since we’ve been aware of the problem, there’s a been a great effort by manufacturers everywhere to phase out PVC in their manufacturing, and luckily, that may also soon include record albums because Evovinyl could change everything.

Evovinyl is made up of something called bio-plastic, which uses sugars and starches instead of PVC so it contains no toxic chemicals. Not only that, it needs less heat to be pressed into a record than PVC vinyl, so it saves energy during the process. It has no effect on the sound quality, and even has anti-static properties, so it’s superior to vinyl in that way too.

You can find out more about Evovinyl here, or watch this great video from Stephen Choi, who’s not only a musician, but an ecology-conscious architect. 

Bobby Owsinski is a producer/engineer, author, blogger, podcaster, and coach. He has authored 24 books on music production, music, the music business, music AI, and social media.