Streaming is the most popular way people listen to music, but old formats like cassettes and vinyl have both seen an increase in sales in recent years. In fact, vinyl has seen a remarkable sales increase of 1,427% since 2007, selling around around four million LPs in 2018 in the UK alone. Since the popularity of vinyl shows no signs of stopping soon, this 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Although album covers are generally made of recyclable cardboard, records were originally made of shellac, before non-recyclable vinyl was used as a replacement. Shellac is a natural resin secreted by the female Kerria lacca bug, which was scraped from trees to produce gramophone records. Since shellac isn’t derived from fossil fuels, its carbon footprint was lower than that of modern records.

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Shellac records were brittle and prone to damage from water and alcohol though, so PVC plastic records were developed as a more durable alternative. In ideal conditions, with low oxygen and without movement, discarded PVC is likely to take centuries to decompose. The environmental conditions of most landfill sites – which have varying soil acidity and temperatures – can cause discarded PVC albums to leach plasticisers (solvents added to plastics to make them more flexible and resilient). They may even outlive the site itself or escape into the environment as pollutants.