Though the overall plastic production in the recording industry has dropped, greenhouse gas emissions caused by music consumption have reached an unprecedented high, a new study from the University of Glasgow shows. The changes in environmental impact are due to the decreasing popularity of physical music formats and rise in digital music streaming.

The amount of plastic production used to package vinyl, cassettes, and CDs have dropped drastically in the U.S. In 1977 (the year in which U.S. sales of the vinyl record peaked), the recording industry used 58 million kilograms of plastic. In 1988 (the peak of cassette sales), that figure dropped slightly to 56 million kilograms of plastic. In 2000 (the peak of CD sales), the industry used 61 million kilograms of plastic. When streaming became the primary method of music listening, the amount of plastics dropped drastically down to around 8 million kilograms by 2016.

“The figures may even suggest that the rises of downloading and streaming are making music more environmentally friendly,” says Dr. Kyle Devine, the University of Oslo professor who led research on the environmental costs of music consumption. “But a very different picture emerges when we think about the energy used to power online music listening. Storing and processing music online uses a tremendous amount of resources and energy—which has a high impact on the environment.”

After translating the production of plastics and the generation of electricity (for storing and transmitting digital audio files) into greenhouse gas equivalents (GHGs), researchers found that the rise in streaming has led to an increasingly negative impact on the environment. While 140 million kilograms of GHGs were generated in 1977, 136 million kilograms in 1988, and 157 million in 2000. By 2016, the generation of GHGs by storing and transmitting digital music files was estimated to be between 200-350 million kilograms in the U.S. alone.

The research also shows that while the environmental cost of music consumption has never been higher, the price consumers are willing to pay for music has never been lower. In 1997, consumers were willing to pay roughly 4.83% of an average weekly salary. That percentage decreased to roughly 1.22% of an average weekly salary in 2013. Since the advent of streaming, the research shows that consumers now pay only just over 1% of their weekly salary to listen to a vast library of music.