After living a secluded existence in the 1990s and early 2000s, interest in the vinyl record is now increasing. For a period, the format was mainly kept alive by smaller indie companies and dance music producers, but today more and more new albums are released in at least a limited LP edition and even the music industry's giants have started to take an interest in the vinyl record again.

That's good news for those who kept their vinyl collections - and for newly started vinyl factories like Spinroad in Lindome outside Gothenburg. However, the panels are made of the plastic Polyvinyl chloride (pvc), which is not very environmentally friendly. But no good alternative is currently available, according to Spinroads CEO Pedro Ferreira.

- Not at the moment. We work together with a university in Portugal and I also try to get in touch with Chalmers here in Gothenburg.

Hard to replace

He says that there is some experimentation in the industry, with products of recycled PVC, algae and wood. But it's hard to find something that fits as well as vinyl as the surface of an LP must be incredibly smooth.

- We talk about small, small surfaces that create the sound. Even the pigment used to make discs in different colors affects the sound, says Pedro Ferreira.

If you ignore the material, vinyl and CDs actually have a smaller climate impression than the streamed music. This shows a Norwegian-British study that was noticed by several Swedish media earlier this year.

According to the researchers' estimates, 140 million kilos of GHG (Greenhose Gas Equivalents) were generated in the United States in 1977 from the production of recorded music. In 2016, music production generated 350 million kilos, despite the increased digitization. It is mainly the operation of server halls of the electricity companies that consume large amounts of energy.

But one does not exclude the other and as the LP becomes more and more popular, plastic consumption also increases. Pedro Ferreira would like to make the process a little greener.

- On the whole, we talk about very small quantities. The number of discs made compared to, for example, the toy industry is vanishingly small. People also tend to keep their records for many years. But it is still a problem and we try to pull our straw to the pile to save the world, he says and laughs.

Less lead

But soon it is not possible. In fact, vinyl records are produced in much the same way today as when they came in the 1940s.

- The machines are automatic now but the process is the same. We still use steam, because it is the best way to warm things up quickly.

One thing that has changed for the better is the amount of lead in PVC, which has decreased dramatically since the early 2000s and is now regulated by EU regulations. But in older vinyl records, the toxic heavy metal remains, and also in newly produced records from the United States.

- It affects the sound quality a little bit. In America, they don't have that restriction and they get more good-sounding discs, but maybe you shouldn't write that, says Pedro Ferreira jokingly.

So far he has not noticed any climate pressures from customers and clients, the interest in finding an alternative to pvc is personal. But it is shared by others in the industry, Pedro Ferreira recently noticed during a visit to a big vinyl fair in Berlin.

- The whole industry is aware of the problem. And I know of other vinyl factories trying to figure out a solution. There is a university in Finland that is also looking into this, he says, and continues:

- It seems that the vinyl record is here to stop. People used to think it was a temporary thing, but it's invested a lot now. The plastic issue is a big problem for everyone