plant-based vinyl replaces PVC with sugarcane bioplastics for compostable records

evovinyl is plant-based vinyl record with sugarcane bioplastics

Evolution Music’s Evovinyl is a plant-based vinyl record made of sugarcane bioplastics that ditches the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a synthetic thermoplastic that contributes to damaging the environment, to devise compostable records. Evovinyl has been tested in regrinding, and the team at Evolution Music finds that the waste from the pressing process can be recycled back into the production process, making the plant-based vinyl record made of sugarcane bioplastics recyclable at the end of its life.

images courtesy of Evolution Music and Professional Monitor Company (PMC)

Evolution Music also adds that Evovinyl can be broken down, but this only applies to industrial composting. Putting the shards of the plant-based vinyl record in the collector’s backyard or plants means they may not break down for a long period of time, even if it is made of sugarcane bioplastics.

Evovinyl can potentially save production energy by up to 30 percent, says Marc Carey, CEO of Evolution Music. During their testing, he says that it takes 50 percent less time to press a plant-based vinyl record with sugarcane bioplastics, and they can run at a lower temperature compared to what is required to manufacture PVC-based vinyl.

detailed view of the plant-based vinyl record ‘Evovinyl’ made of sugarcane bioplastics

sound quality with antistatic properties

The design team is going to test Evovinyl’s decaying stages, but they are confident that ‘if treated well, there is every reason to expect it will last like PVC, and possibly slightly longer in sound quality because of the apparent antistatic properties,’ they say. In terms of its music quality, Evovinyl is believed to retain the quality of the songs being played.

‘The pressing plants and sound engineers we are working with are telling us that Evovinyl is sonically as good (if not better) than a lot of the existing PVC-based vinyl sold in the market,’ adds the Evolution Music team. They say that while the background noise on the lead-in and space between tracks may be a bit behind some of the PVC vinyls on the market, the plant-based vinyl record made of sugarcane bioplastics still has its own assets to show off.

the plant-based vinyl record ‘Evovinyl’ can be dyed even if it’s made of sugarcane bioplastics

Evovinyl has also been tested with a Hi-Fi supplier working with Evolution Music. They played the plant-based vinyl record made of sugarcane bioplastics repeatedly for a long time, and the degradation of the sound quality over time was absent (if not no significant difference to PVC).

‘Sound quality is impacted a lot by how well the user looks after their LPs, and by the effects of dust and fluff. Evovinyl appears to have antistatic properties (which we hope to confirm soon through formal testing), so in the longer term, the sound quality is expected to be less affected by dust and fluff,’ says the Evolution Music team.

the waste from the pressing process of Evovinyl can be recycled back into the production process

sugarcane bioplastics for speaker parts?

Recently, the loudspeaker manufacturer Professional Monitor Company (PMC) teamed up with Evolution Music to boost their production of the plant-based vinyl record made of sugarcane bioplastics. Peter Thomas, PMC’s founder and chairman, says that they plan to adopt the technology and replace some plastic parts of PMC’s loudspeakers.

‘Everyone in the hi-fi industry should get behind this project. It’s not about PMC or me, but something much, much bigger than that. I have heard the latest test pressings and am able to confirm that they sound every bit as good as traditional records,’ he adds. As of publishing the story, fans can reach out to Evolution Music to see if they can customize a plant-based vinyl made of sugarcane bioplastics for their favorite record.

Professional Monitor Company (PMC) teamed up with Evolution Music to boost their production of Evovinyl