Sorry to ruin your all-analog parade.
It's no secret that the resurgence of vinyl records has reached a new level, outselling CDs for the first time since 1987 as of 2022, according to a report of the Recording Industry Association. of America. Three years later, its end of the year. report boasts another statistic: vinyl record sales surpassed $1 billion in 2025, the first time since 1983.
But there's an inevitable downside to anything made partially from liquid dinosaur bones. Modern vinyl records are made from PVC resin, which makes up more than 75% of the average record. The synthetic polymer itself is made from chlorine and raw materials derived from fossil fuels.
To put its damage in perspective, it is the first of its kind report from Vinyl Alliance, published in June 2024, found that 50% of a record's carbon emissions come from this resin. The carbon footprint of a single LP was estimated to be approximately equal to the pollution emitted by a gasoline-powered vehicle during a three-mile trip. The figure adds up quickly, considering that 46.8 million new records were sold last year.
Fortunately, not everything is gloomy.
Organizations such as Music Declares Emergency and the Music Climate Pact initiative are coming together to address the issue. A campaign by the groups, in collaboration with record labels and distribution teams from Secretly Group, Exceleration Music, Warp Records, Ninja Tune and Beggars Group, features titles printed on 100% reclaimed material.
The release, which coincides with World Environment Day on Friday, features notable titles such as Elliott Smith's “Roman Candle,” Bon Iver's “For Emma, Forever Ago” and Dinosaur Jr.'s “You're Living All Over Me.”
“What we found in talking to a lot of our artists and customers is that… they are concerned about the environment and want to find ways to reduce their footprint,” says Ben Swanson, co-founder of Secretly Group and the Independent Record Pressing plant in Bordentown, New Jersey, where LPs are made. “It takes up about 16% less space than the traditional vinyl piece.”
Soren Smith working at Independent Record Pressing in Bordentown, New Jersey, on May 26, 2026.
(Dutch Doscher / for The Times)
To a large extent, it has been people like Swanson who have fully committed themselves to the cause. He says that during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, in an “activist moment,” several labels signed the Music Climate Pact, declaring their intention to reduce their emissions and be better stewards of the Earth.
“He had almost no teeth,” explains Swanson. “A lot of people signed it, posted something on Instagram and it stayed there for a few years. For us, it was quite frustrating… it felt very shallow.”
His work continued, along with a few others, thanks to the support of Murmur, an organization designed to support labels and names in the industry, fulfilling the commitments made when the Musical Climate Pact was signed.
“We're more doers than tellers,” Swanson says. “We've really been experimenting with what we call 'Revinyl' – post-industrial, pre-consumer recycled vinyl – as a means to reduce our IRP footprint.”
This is what part of Friday's launch is made of: all the decorations, tidbits and surplus that would otherwise end up in landfill or the factory. At the moment, it certainly won't solve the climate cost of vinyl records, but it will help mitigate it.
Between 2024 and 2025, total units produced at Independent Record Pressing increased by 41%, while emissions, which also benefited from low-carbon transport, decreased by 34%.
“The idea is that if you can make those records 16% more efficient and also show the fans of those records… that it's viable, maybe it will make it a little easier next year when we go out and ask other artists to come on board,” Swanson explains. “We're not making records that are just going to sit on a shelf; they're records that we're continually repressing all the time anyway.”
Similarly, Ian Stanton, chief sustainability officer at Beggars Group, was one of the first to sign the pact in 2021. His role was created five years ago to give independent labels a voice in light of minimal resources and capabilities. Although these roles exist at larger labels, he says they have “slightly different drivers.”
When it comes to discs, the purely plastic pollution that comes from them is also a cause for concern. When ancient records arrive at a landfill, it is likely that they will not only survive the site, but may also leach plasticizers, according to a report from Keele University. found.
“Vinyl is not like single-use plastic; we don't throw it away after one listen. We treasure it, we pass it down from generation to generation, and people have a real connection to it,” he says. “But like any other product, there are ways to make it more sustainable.”
It refers to certain plastics, such as shrink wrap, as the most “visible” aspect of vinyl record contamination to consumers. From a collector's point of view, shrink wrapping can increase the value of a record. Although there has been debate over the years whether this can actually damage the case, many sellers advocate a “shrink wrapped” label as it increases prices.
Discs with splatter motifs arrive at Independent Record Pressing's trimming station in Bordentown, New Jersey, on May 26, 2026.
(Dutch Doscher / for The Times)
Other visible aspects, such as the paper sleeves in which the records are stored, are also harmful. However, Swanson says that swapping them for recycled materials makes a relatively negligible difference in emissions impact, largely due to the process behind their production.
At the moment, vinyl records made from reclaimed materials are the best that companies like Swanson's can do, although they are always looking for other viable options to improve their footprint. For example, they are actively experimenting with how existing recording material can help them.
What can worn-out, beat-up records from your local thrift store do to prevent a landfill and keep the Earth spinning? As it is, not much.
Stanton lists a number of challenges, including obsolete materials, modern production regulations and contaminants.
“I guess what we need with PVC for records is a very high-quality, contamination-free material to achieve that sound reproduction,” he explains. “When you bring things in from that post-consumer environment, you have to make sure there's no contamination there, because you'll end up with sound quality issues.
“Everything is in process,” he adds.
For now, they are looking to solve the most immediate problems first, such as transport emissions, where Beggars Group has converted the vast majority of its transport operations to sea transport, a much less harmful alternative compared to air transport.
“We want to look at the entire life cycle…not just thinking from cradle to gate, but from the point where the raw materials are extracted at the beginning,” Stanton says. “This life cycle analysis now looks at all the different environmental indicators: chemical use, water use, and end-of-life impacts on that side of things.”
