Frequently asked questions
Will I have to buy a new record player?
No. EVOVINYL works across all existing record players.
Will Evovinyl damage my stylus?
No. In fact, because in informal tests our material has had reduced static properties, EVOVINYL may be less likely to gather the dust and particles that may damage your stylus in the long term. We will be undertaking formal tests to confirm this.
Will I have to buy new machinery for my pressing plant?
No. We have specifically designed and tested our materials to produce EVOVINYL LPs with existing record-pressing machines. We have already successfully tested with Pheenix Alphas, Warm Tones and Allegro IIs, and are planning trials with other machines.
We will work with you to adjust the temperature and other settings to ensure we all get the best results possible. Our initial trials are showing higher unit output per hour because of the reduced temperatures requiring shorter heating and cooling times.
Will the compound damage my pressing machines?
No. We have designed and tested our materials to work for all pressing machines, in the same way that PVC granules and masterbatch do.
In fact, we are finding the best pressing machine operating temperatures are typically around 15% less for our materials, so there are energy savings in production and on some models of pressing machines quicker production times because of reduced heating and cooling time.
Can I recycle the waste from pressing and reuse it as re-grind?
Yes. We have tested production using 100% regrind of our compound with complete success
We always recommend you run your own tests with re-grind of our material and find a mix of virgin materials and regrind materials that meets your needs. The material needs to be managed carefully to ensure there is zero contamination from mixing with PVC or other materials.
What is the bioplastic made from?
Primarily plant-based materials, with some natural mineral binders, and non-toxic additives for colour and for optimum flow rates when it is heated in the pressing machines.
Where do you buy your bioplastic ingredients from?
We currently have a supply agreement with a global polymer manufacturer and inventor of high-performance black and colour masterbatch solutions, as we have developed our materials collaboratively with them, to produce the EVOVINYL product.
Are the crops used to create the bioplastic organic?
No. Not at this point, although our materials are ‘Bon Sucro’ certified – Bonsucro is the leading global sustainability standard for sugarcane, whose purpose is to collectively accelerate the sustainable production and uses of sugarcane. Evolution Music’s longer term plans including sourcing from organic, regenerative agricultural systems.
Please remember, at this point we are a relatively small company at the early stages of a long journey. Our focus initially is getting the core product right, then we can work on improvements that will be possible in the supply chain.
What is the end of life plan for Evovinyl?
We have tested EVOVINYL ‘regrind’ so we know that any EVOVINYL waste from the pressing process can be recycled back into the production process. The end-of-life plan for EVOVINYL is for it to be identifiable so that it can be composted in industrial composting systems.
We will also explore other ways to capture EVOVINYL at the end of its life, for recycling or re-use. As Evolution Music grows we will do more work in these areas, to reduce product and manufacturing impacts even further.
Can I put Evovinyl in my compost? Or are industrial composting conditions needed?
Do not put EVOVINYL in your home compost. EVOVINYL needs industrial composting conditions to break down. If you put EVOVINYL in your home compost heap it won’t cause any harm but it will not breakdown for a very, very long time.
How long will an Evovinyl product last for? Will it decay on the shelf?
No, it will not decay on the shelf. We undertook accelerated ageing tests on our product and a PVC LP at NPL’s testing facilities, which showed similar degradation between them. Not that we’d expect any vinyl lover to treat their LPs that badly! We don’t know exactly how long EVOVINYL will last, but 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 (which we hope to confirm soon through formal testing).
We tested our EVOVINYL LP and a PVC LP at the National Physical Laboratories (NPL) by putting it in an oven at high humidity and at 50 degrees C for a month. This was part of a programme of testing work at NPL which took place over 3 months. They completed a set of Accelerated ageing, Mechanical, Scratch resistance and Acoustic performance tests for us, comparing our bioplastic LPs performance with that of a PVC LP, none of which indicated any significant risks to the quality or performance of our product compared to PVC LPs.
When the record is played, how does the bioplastic affect the sound quality?
In terms of the reproduction of music, the sound quality is excellent. 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. At this point, the background noise on the lead-in and space between tracks is slightly behind the very best PVC vinyl – although still ahead of much of what’s sold.
We are continuing our R&D work to get to the highest levels of sound performance, to achieve a level that is at least as good as the best in the market.
How will the bioplastic affect the sound quality over time?
We have tested EVOVINYL with a top hifi supplier by playing it repeatedly for a long period time, and this did not show any significant difference to PVC in terms of in the degradation in the sound quality over time. Sound quality is impacted a lot by how well you look after your 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 effected by dust and fluff than would be the case with PVC LPs.
Does Evovinyl have a larger carbon footprint than traditional vinyl?
No, it has a lower carbon and environmental footprint. Calculating the wholelife footprint of EVOVINYL is a complex (and expensive) calculation that needs to follow a set of technical requirements to meet international lifecycle analysis quality standards. This will be undertaken in 2023.
Calculating the whole life footprint of Evovinyl takes into account the carbon and environmental impacts of the production and processing of the materials used to make EVOVINYL, the impacts of the record pressing plant and machines, and the shipping and distribution of the records. Evolution Music will work with Dr Craig Jones of Circular Ecology to undertake a lifecycle analysis of EVOVINYL, the results of which we will make publicly available. At this point technical studies of the carbon footprint of PLA in general uses compared to PVC in general uses indicate the following: "From a cradle-to-gate perspective the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of PLA is confirmed to be only 500 gram CO2 /kg of PLA... which is roughly a 75% reduction in carbon footprint versus most traditional plastics," François de Bie, Senior Marketing Director at Total Corbion PLA. The full LCA article this information is drawn from can be found in the November 2019 edition of the "Journal of Polymers and the Environment" volume 27 issue 11, published by Springer Nature.
How easy is it to recycle? Will my local council recycle my Evovinyl? If my record breaks how do I dispose of it sustainably?
EVOVINYL is both recyclable and industrially compostable, but the answer to this good question depends on where you are and the quality of the recycling collection systems in your country and locality. As we’re guessing you’ve (currently) got more PVC records than EVOVINYL records, we really like this advice page from Normans Records in Leeds, so it may help for the end-of-life options for your PVC records
If you know anything about recycling, you know the UK does not have very good recycling systems in place compared to the better European countries. So we are considering the best options to recover EVOVINYL so that we can help ensure sustainable disposable. We recommend you look after your EVOVINYL (and your PVC records), so that by the time they get to the end of their long life of enjoyment we are confident we will have good systems in place.
Will my Evovinyl suffer from photodegradation? Will UV radiation causes degradation when Evovinyl is exposed to sunlight?
We do not recommending leaving either your EVOVINYL (or PVC) LPs in sunlight for an extended period of time! If you do, they are much more likely to warp than to photodegrade. If you really are expecting to leave any of your records in sunlight for an extended period of time we suggest you don’t buy any EVOVINYL!
If you are circular do you have a returns policy?
As a small start-up company we are not able to offer this at this point, although we will be looking at the feasibility of this and other options in the future. We are confident that we will be able to identify a range of uses for recycling or downcycling the EVOVINYL materials to use in other music-related products, such as instruments, speakers etc.
How do we work with Evolution Music to set up for a first project with your material?
Go to our Project Enquiry page, complete the enquiry form and press Submit!
We will set up communications with our Partner Relations Manager and Projects Coordinator, including sending you a customer information pack with relevant technical information. Once we understand the pressing machines you use and other technical considerations we will make arrangements that give you confidence for being set up to produce bioplastic LPs with appropriate technical back up as necessary.
What is the lead time for Evovinyl? If I place an order this week how long will it take to get the record delivered?
This will depend on the pressing plant, if they have used our material already, and if you have any booked capacity with pressing plants. The lead times are expected to be similar to PVC as the main issue is pressing plant capacity rather than materials supply. We do know that once the plant is familiar with running our material, on some pressing machines they can expect to produce your order more quickly because of the efficiency savings Evovinyl allows.