Suitcase Records is a privately owned small business that focuses on providing the highest possible quality of vinyl records combined with proactive social and environmental practices. The following details our commitment to sustainability.
Energy
- We use Diamond Energy for our Electricity Supply. Diamond Energy is an Australian renewable energy company that supplies 100% renewable electricity. Their supply is made up of the following renewable energy sources; Solar from large scale solar farms (70.9 %); Biogas (18.1%); Wind (3.9%); and Rooftop PV (6.5%).
- We use natural gas to produce steam. We recognize that natural gas is a fossil fuel, however in the production of steam it is significantly more efficient than electricity and produces much less Co2 than electricity in this process. We have investigated the use of renewable electricity to produce steam, however the amount of electricity required makes this option impractical at present. We are actively following innovations in renewable energy sources for steam production and are committed to changing our steam production process when a sustainable alternative is commercially available. In the short term we source our natural gas through AGL and subscribe to AGL’s carbon offset program to reduce the impacts of using Natural Gas.
Water
- We use a closed system for our chilled water and steam, which means that our water is recycled within our production system to significantly reduce both water waste and consumption.
Transport
- Our company vehicle is 100% Electric, and we recharge the vehicle at our factory to utilise renewable energy and avoid fossil fuel consumption.
- Wherever possible we use suppliers within a 50km radius of our factory to reduce the environmental impact of transport. Where we need to transport supplies from outside this radius we subscribe to the carbon offset programs offered by our chosen transport companies.
Printing and Packaging
- Our printers use FSC certified paper and card stocks, and vegetable-based inks for all our printed packaging.
- We do not use or offer single use plastics such as shrink-wrap in our packaging. If customers require outer wrapping, we offer reusable and re-sealable poly bags for an additional cost.
- We offer plain paper inner sleeves if customers would like to remove all plastic from their packaging.
- Our shipping boxes are produced locally in Brisbane from stock using 40% recycled paper, and all boxes are 100% recyclable.
Social Responsibility
- We support several charitable organisations through donations and partnerships including Support Act and Spend it Well.
- We partner with Stepping Stones, a Brisbane community based organisation that
successfully addresses the serious impacts of mental illness. We provide casual full pay employment for their clients to help them transition back into the workforce.
Equity
- We are 50% female owned and operated.
- We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate against any employee or job applicant because of race, colour, religion, national origin, sex, physical or mental disability, or age.
Vinyl Record compound
Records are currently made using specialist PVC compounds that include fossil fuels, and chemicals for stabilising and lubrication during the pressing process.
These compounds have continually improved in recent years, and most PVC suppliers (including ours) have stopped using heavy metals such as lead, and toxic chemicals for lubrication.
While a significant positive for vinyl records is they are the opposite of single use plastics, and a well-cared for record will sound great for 100 years, there is no avoiding the fact the vinyl records are made using plastics. Because of this there are a number of actions we take to reduce the impact of vinyl records on the environment.
These include;
- We re-grind all our waste, including records that don’t pass QA to allow us to re-use this waste in our records.
- We use between 10% and 15% regrind in all our black vinyl records. This improves the quality of our records as it improves the melting properties of new pvc material and does not impact sound quality.
- We reuse our colour pvc waste in mixed colour records and offer 100% regrind mixed colour records for customers who would like to avoid new PVC compounds in their records (they look and sound great!).
- When we recycle waste records, we punch out the centre label so that there is no ground paper in the records we make from recycled pvc. We then smooth the edges of these centre labels and give them to clients to use for merch such as drink coasters.
- The above actions mean that we are close to zero waste in pvc compound.
Low Carbon PVC Compound
There has been a significant push within the manufacturing industry to develop more sustainable and environmentally friendly compounds for making records. In the past, most of these compounds have produced inferior quality records which made the compounds unsuitable for commercial production.
This has now changed, and there is a new compound available that reduces the Co2 output of vinyl record compound by 92.5%, compared to the standard available compounds on the market. This is achieved by improvements in the manufacturing processes for compounds which reduce energy and water usage, new stabilisers that do not use metals of any kind, bio based lubricants, and the replacing of some fossil fuel raw materials with bio based materials in the base compound.
We have undertaken internal testing of this new compound, and the results are fantastic. There is no impact to production, visually the records look as beautiful as ever, and most importantly, there is no discernible difference to audio quality.
Based on this we now offer this Low Carbon Compound. When combined with plain paper inner sleeves and no plastic outer wrapping, these records are the most sustainable available anywhere in the world.
