Billie Eilish’s vinyl for her upcoming album, ‘Hit Me Hard And Soft’, will be 100 per cent recycled.
The ‘What Was I Made For?’ hitmaker recently branded fellow musicians “wasteful” for releasing their music via collectible vinyls to boost sales, and whilst she will be releasing her own vinyls, the disc and packaging are made from 100 per cent leftovers and will help to reduce carbon emissions by 90 per cent.
A statement on the sustainability section of the Grammy winner’s website reads: “The standard black variant is made from 100 per cent recycled black vinyl. The remaining seven colored vinyl will be made from ECO-MIX or BioVinyl. The former is created using 100 per cent recycled compound made of leftovers from any color which cannot otherwise be used.
“These pieces are recycled and re-used for production of future discs; therefore, every disc will be unique and look different from the last. Additionally, Billie is using recyclable compound for her single LP colors, collecting all first run scraps to re-use for additional runs later. BioVinyl helps reduce carbon emissions by 90 per cent vs. virgin vinyl by using non-fossil fuel materials like used cooking oil or industrial waste gases while maintaining the same audio and optical quality as conventional vinyl.”
A note on the packaging added: “All vinyl packaging is made from FSC certified recycled paper/boards made 100% from post-consumer waste and recycled pre-consumer fibers. The ink used is raw plant-based and water-based dispersion varnish. In place of shrink-wrap, the sleeves are 100 per cent recycled and re-usable. For shipping, all finished goods are packaged and shipped to depots in up to 93 per cent recycled and 100 per cent recyclable shipping boxes.”
The 22-year-old pop star has committed to being as “sustainable” as possible in her work by embracing recyclable materials and making sure her tours are as green by banning disposable plastics from her shows and providing plant-based meals for her crew – and she recently hit out at some of the “biggest artists in the world” for creating multiple different versions of the same vinyls to encourage fans to buy more.
She told Billboard: “We live in this day and age where, for some reason, it’s very important to some artists to make all sorts of different vinyl and packaging … which ups the sales and ups the numbers and gets them more money and gets them more …
“I can’t even express to you how wasteful it is. It is right in front of our faces and people are just getting away with it left and right, and I find it really frustrating as somebody who really goes out of my way to be sustainable and do the best that I can and try to involve everybody in my team in being sustainable – and then it’s some of the biggest artists in the world making … 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.”
Billie is set to share her record all it once without releasing any singles on May 17.