Physical music and packaging manufacturer Key Production Group has rebooted its vinyl and CD recycling scheme in a bid to improve the sustainability and eco-friendliness of physical media in the UK, reports Music Week. The program initially launched in 2020 to save unplayable records and discs from landfills, where they take years to decompose, but it was halted in its tracks by the pandemic. Five years later, it is now being kickstarted, with the announcement yesterday (18th March) fittingly coinciding with World Recycling Day.
Major UK record stores, including London’s Rough Trade and Sister Ray, are trialling the recycling service in an effort to responsibly recycle their unplayable stock, although Key Production Group itself are accepting deliveries at their Wembley office (see the Instagram post below for the address). The manufacturer will supposedly accept ‘all types of vinyl records, CDs and their packaging… regardless of size or condition’.
Like other recycling schemes, this one uses what is called ‘mechanical recycling’, which sees the media shredded, cleaned and melted, then extruded into granules that can be used to create new products. While recycled PVC from vinyl records can be used to manufacture products such as pipes, garden furniture and traffic cones, the recycled polycarbonate from CDs can be used for, say, mobile phone parts and safety glasses.
So next time you’re disposing of damaged physical music, why not seek to give them a second lease of life? According to Key Production Group’s recycling facilities, over 30,000 records and nearly 80,000 CDs have been sent out for destruction in the past year.
More details about Key Production Group’s scheme can be found here: https://www.keyproduction.co.uk/sustainability/
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