Vinyl hits the planet hard: Billie Eilish unveils new sustainability plan to soften the blow

Billie Eilish’s upcoming album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, is to be released 17 May. While the album itself is highly anticipated, it is the vinyl that has excited climate activists. She is diverging from the norm through the use of recycled or ‘eco-vinyl’ materials. Similarly, all LPs will have the same tracklist to reduce unnecessary waste, production, and energy. This is all in action with her new revolutionary sustainability plan.

Vinyl records have been skyrocketing, with 5.9 million sold in 2023, four times those sold in 2022. Currently, the production uses PVC (Polyvinyl chloride), understood by the industry, to be energy-intensive and outdated. PVC is designed to be more durable than its gramophone record counterpart, made from Shellac, a natural resin. This durability comes at a cost as PVC is considerably more carbon exhaustive, with chemical compounds blended, screened into strands, and cut into pellets which are then hydraulically pressed into discs. A study by Keele University unveiled that each modern vinyl contains around 153g of PVC equating to a carbon footprint of 0.5kg of CO2. This means in 2023, with 5.9 million records being sold over three thousand tonnes of CO2 were produced. Since the way vinyl is manufactured has been the same since its boom in the 1970s and 80s, keeping up with demand is difficult.

Why we are doing this in the first place, we must think of the future, we must pressure for change.

With finite materials and a global population double the size, current production is unsustainable. Global temperatures will continue to rise threatening the global balance. Life on earth will be a luxury, not a right. Things must change if we want to continue physical media and live to use it.

Eilish spoke on the importance of changing behaviour for Billboard. “But what’s more important: things being original [the same] or our kids being able to live on the planet and them having kids?” She raises an important point. Why we are doing this in the first place, we must think of the future, we must pressure for change.

In the same interview, Eilish’s mother, Maggie Baird “recalls ‘begging’ labels to provide more information about their environmental initiatives and policies.” Labels could not have anticipated how influential the then-16-year-old Eilish would become. Now in her early twenties, Eilish has become a household name. Gaining recognition from blockbuster soundtracks, No Time to Die and Barbie. Eilish wields the power to make demands from record labels, demands that in 2017 she and Baird struggled for. That let her set a new standard which makes eco-friendly action more accessible.

If we are searching for a way of global sustainability, is consumption the way to do it?

In 2019 Nick Mulvey released his single ‘In The Anthropocene’ on ‘Ocean Vinyl’ – using recycled plastic washed up on beaches. For Mulvey this was a “long and laborious process”, but Eilish is proving it does not have to be. Where there is support, there is a possibility.  This gives smaller artists examples to fight back against labels which refuse, citing the ‘expense’. It is a sign for similarly large artists to do the same and that they cannot get away with doing nothing anymore. It is time to step up.

Despite these efforts, it can be felt counterproductive to even bother producing Vinyl. If we are searching for a way of global sustainability, is consumption the way to do it? We are faced with a climate crisis which threatens the livelihoods of billions. Eilish speaks of making sacrifices for the sake of future generations, is this not greenwashing to justify over-consumption?  With streaming a non-tangible, accessible, and supposedly ‘sustainable’ option, this attempt starts to lose weight.

However, streaming is a hidden enemy. Being ‘non-tangible’, you never ‘own’ a song you stream. Unless downloaded, music is accessed via internet servers. To constantly run servers comes at a cost. Server farms run large centres of data which require intense cooling from air-conditioners 24 hours a day. Constant, global streaming is an energy-inefficient game. With the resources needed to stream revealing a haunting IT footprint. According to MIT Press, “The cloud has a greater carbon footprint than the airline industry.” For example, New Statesmen data reveals Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Driver’s Licence’ has a carbon footprint greater than flying a round trip from London to New York 4,000 times!

Yet, vinyl records are difficult to dispose of. PVC’s non-biodegradable meaning vinyl records may outlast the landfill sites they are disposed in where they slowly leach plasticisers into the soil. This both makes the ground unsafe and pollutes groundwater sources – disrupting aquifers. Local drinking water becomes unusable. Although PVC vinyl records are difficult to recycle, it is a plastic we tend to keep. Vinyl is a precious commodity and is likely passed down through generations. With Eilish’s new sustainability plan, a beautiful new generation of music follows suit. Hopefully setting a new standard in the music industry.

Eilish is a large name stepping up and inciting change with Hit Me Hard and Soft. We will just have to wait and see if other artists begin to rise and take clear action against the climate crisis.