Sustainable Product Innovation: Sonopress Presents the EcoCD

Sustainability is a mega-trend in the music industry. Artists, labels and music majors, as well as manufacturers and service providers, are increasingly looking for ways to actively contribute to mitigating global climate change by reducing their environmental impact. Sonopress, a leading manufacturer of storage media, was quick to recognize this trend and has been working for some time to significantly reduce CO2 emissions in the manufacture of CDs and LPs.

At the end of last year, the Gütersloh-based company launched the EcoRecord together with its long-standing customer Warner Music. As a result, Coldplay’s forthcoming tenth studio album, Moon Music, will be the world’s first released as a 140g EcoRecord LP, with each copy made from nine recycled PET-plastic bottles recovered from post-consumer waste. This will prevent the manufacture of more than 25 metric tonnes of virgin plastic, and provide an 85% reduction in manufacturing process CO2 emissions/kg compared to traditional 140g vinyl.

Now Sonopress announces its next product innovation: A CD made from 90 percent recycled polycarbonate, sourced from post-consumer waste streams. This will provide at least a 78% CO2/kg emission reduction related to the material, and avoid the manufacture of more than five metric tonnes of virgin plastic. The CD editions of Moon Music will be the world’s first to be released on EcoCD.

Sonopress Managing Director Sven Deutschmann said: “We are excited to announce the launch of our latest product: the EcoCD, a pioneering, sustainable storage medium that protects the environment while offering top product quality. Our development of the EcoCD underlines our commitment to supporting the music industry in its efforts towards circularity and climate neutrality.”

Sonopress developed the EcoCD with strict sustainability criteria in mind. The base material used in its production is polycarbonate, 90 percent of which consists of post- consumer recycled material – i.e. mechanically recycled polycarbonate that has already passed through the economic cycle. Only ten percent of the starting material consists of new fossil-based plastic. Deutschmann noted: “According to our supplier, the carbon footprint of this material is more than 70 percent lower than that of newly produced polycarbonate.”

The new EcoCD is produced on conventional injection molding machines, which the R&D experts at Sonopress themselves modified extensively, as the recycled polycarbonate behaves differently in terms of viscosity and other product properties.

Sonopress’ development of the EcoCD is further proof that the company is not only environmentally conscious, but also one of the most innovative suppliers in the replication industry. “We are delighted to be making a contribution to sustainability with this new product and are thrilled that our customer Warner Music has decided, together with Coldplay, to release the band's new album as an EcoCD," says Deutschmann.