Music industry aims for packaging emissions cuts

The UK’s major record labels have signed off on a plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from CD packaging by 10 percent this year, according to consulting firm Arup.

Arup’s recommendations were commissioned by Julie’s Bicycle, an organisation that seeks to reduce carbon emissions within the music industry. The consultancy concluded that one of the industry’s largest direct sources of greenhouse gas emissions came from product packaging. It recommended switching from plastic CD cases to card wallets, a change that could cut emissions by as much as 95 percent.

Following Arup’s findings, Julie’s Bicycle has introduced an Industry Green (IG) mark to denote music packaging that demonstrates “evidenced commitment to, and plans for, greenhouse gas reductions and other environmentally sustainable actions.”

“To accurately understand the impacts on climate change in any situation, it is vital to look at a whole picture, the complete supply chain,” said Neil Grange, sustainable event management consultant at Arup. “This technique can be applied at any scale, from products and projects to events and entire regional strategies. It is then possible to take informed action and generate really significant improvements, even through making simple changes such as switching from one type of packaging to another.”