GreenEarth Cleaning

Dropping the needle on reducing and reusing

While I like a good pub crawl as much as the next person, I’m currently more tuned in to the up-and-coming Record Store Crawls across the globe.

Get it? “Tuned in.” …Sorry.

Just step into my husband and I’s 700-square-foot apartment, and our living room is dedicated to shelves of LPs (all organized by genre, artist, and release date, of course) and a silver Audio-Technica turntable.

These collection events start in New York and Berlin on April 21, aka Record Store Day, with other cities following anytime between May and October. As per “crawl” fashion, the whole experience is community-oriented. You’re shuttled from record shop to record shop surrounded by individuals who are just as nuts about vintage vinyl as you are. Hooray! Plus, there are live performances, gift bags, and—my personal favorite—discounts to look forward to.   

With LP sales on the rise thanks to hipsters like me, even new artists are producing vinyl formats of their work. It may be nice to snag the latest release, but I’m honestly more interested in what used gems I can dig up. And I like to think of it as an eco-friendly choice too. Records have been made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) since the 1950s. If you know anything about plastics, PVC is notorious for ending up in landfills and staying there. By buying that old Rolling Stones 12-inch, Mother Nature is essentially thanking me.

Purchasing second-hand is always the environmentally conscious option—and not just when it comes to music. We could be talking fashion, home furnishings, or cars, and the principle is the same. Just because it didn’t first go into a blue bin doesn’t mean you’re not recycling. Your decision is still a diversion of wastefulness.

I’m not here to promote going on a Record Store Crawl. I’m not advocating for you to like records, for that matter. But everyone does indulge in a guilty pleasure from time to time. Just know that it doesn’t always have to be brand new for you to enjoy it.

By: Zarah Eads

   



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