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From the ground up
Evovinyl is a vinyl record material developed from the ground up with one specific goal: to create a completely plastic-free alternative to traditional PVC. That distinction matters, because there is an important difference between what we have built and what is sometimes marketed as sustainable vinyl.
A lot of alternatives on the market take an existing PVC-based compound and modify one element of it, swapping out a percentage of harmful chemicals or the oil used while keeping the core formula largely intact. In our view, that approach isn’t about solving the problem; rather, it’s about marketing. We consider it greenwashing, and it is precisely what we set out to avoid. Working closely with our supply chain partners, we developed Evovinyl using a plant based polymer and entirely natural materials such as sugarcane and other agricultural waste products to create an entirely new compound that matches the physical and sonic qualities of PVC without carrying its environmental cost.
Why does it matter?
The question we are asked most often about Evovinyl is a reasonable one. Why does a plastic-free record need to exist when a traditional vinyl record is about as far away from single-use as a product can get?
The honest answer is that our focus was never to change anything for the consumer. It was in the production process. Manufacturing PVC is environmentally damaging at a significant scale – PVC is considered as the most environmentally damaging plastic and one of the most toxic substances for inhabitants of our planet. From cradle to grave, the PVC lifecycle (production, use, and disposal) results in the release of toxic, chlorine-based chemicals, and it is one of the world’s largest dioxin sources. These toxins build up in water, air, and food chains. They cause severe health problems, including cancer, immune system damage, and hormone disruption. At Evolution, we wanted to reduce that impact without changing anything for the pressing company, artist, label, or listener.
To ensure the transition is as straightforward as possible, Evovinyl is designed to work within the same pressing process already used across the industry. Artists, labels and pressing companies can move to Evovinyl without changing their equipment, workflow, or their expectations of the finished product. We were deliberate about removing as many barriers to adoption as possible.
That said, we are aware that the traditional pressing process carries its own environmental footprint, and we are also actively exploring alternatives. We have been working with innovators like Good Neighbour to test their new manufacturing approaches such as injection moulding, with the longer-term goal of addressing the full production process, not just the material. We understand the importance of creating short-term solutions for sustainability options as well as working on wider long-term solutions.
Plastic- Free Variants
A plastic-free compound has been the end goal of Evovinyl since the beginning, but getting there has been a gradual process. Across our development work, we have used multiple variants of the Evovinyl compound simultaneously, with different formulations being used for different pressings at the same time. That complexity has made it difficult, until recently, to make unqualified claims about the material being fully plastic-free.
Our latest variant changes that. It is plastic-free, it performs reliably on both hand and automated pressing machines, and we are confident it will serve as our primary compound for upcoming commercial projects. Development of further variants continues in parallel on smaller projects to refine and improve the compound over time.
Our next step is to conduct a full life cycle analysis on our latest variant to inform our future improvements to Evovinyl to make it more sustainable.
What should I do?
If you’re a consumer who likes to listen to high-quality music on vinyl, nothing. Evovinyl records are designed to play on the same players with the same styluses and to sound the same as traditional PVC records. Part of our goal is to make sure the consumer doesn’t notice the change. Just look out for our certified stamp on future records.
If you do want to help, tell your favourite artist to use more sustainable options in their music.
If you’re an artist, label, pressing plant or industry professional, get in touch by filling out our enquiry form. We look forward to hearing from you.