The Sustainability Issues Behind the Prevalence of Plastic Recorders-Assignment 4(Norah)

 The Sustainability Issues Behind the Prevalence of Plastic Recorders-Assignment 4

Norah(Jiaqing Jin)

From the 15th century to the 18th century, the recorder was frequently used in live performances. But due to its limited volume, it began to be overshadowed by the flute from the classical period. Nowadays, however, the recorder has been given a vital role in the field of music education, with widespread usage in elementary schools all over the world. This idea was originated by Carl Orff, a German composer and music educator. He saw the recorder as an easy way to get kids to start playing with music.
 
Recorders were originally handcrafted, made with wood, and made for the highest of society. Since the 1960s, they started being produced out of plastic. Nowadays, plastic recorders make up the majority of the market. 
 
Plastic recorders are factory-made and machine-molded instruments. In that case, the recorder factory can produce a large number of recorders much faster than in the past. You can see the production process in the video below. This video is in Japanese, but I've translated it a little. In short, a plastic recorder is made of abs plastic pellets like Lego blocks after machine molding and manual assembly. 

                                          Factory Production Process of Plastic Recorders

There are definitely some advantages to a plastic recorder for its prevalence. The most important thing is that it simplifies the production process and greatly reduces the price. Imagine you can get a decent musical instrument for only $20HKD. In that case, It has greatly reduced the cost of playing music and increased the prevalence of musical instruments. Meanwhile, plastic recorders do have great sound. Here is a video below showing the differences between the plastic recorder and the wooden one. Surprisingly, I even like the plastic one more. Plastic recorders also have the advantage of relatively straightforward maintenance. Of course, plastic is easier to clean and look after, therefore, easier to stay hygienic.

                The Difference Between the Sound of a Plastic Recorder and a Wooden Recorder

However, under the prevalence of plastic recorders, some issues of environmental sustainability have arisen.

The first issue would be waste. It has become a non-negotiation part of elementary school that every student should buy a plastic recorder. Many children buy the recorder just for this educational task and abandon it after graduation; after all, it is not a mainstream instrument. I also saw a post on a Chinese social media platform about plastic recorders, and someone commented, "Wasn't the harp used for fighting as a child? There is no doubt that the plastic recorder is undervalued and abused because of its cheapness and educational compulsion. In addition, I got the following image from a Chinese online shopping App(Taobao) by searching for “recorder”. I tried to translate the image into English but it appeared to be some mistakes. Basically, the slogans of these sellers are all school-related and the highest-selling merchant sold more than 10,000 recorders in a month. However, I have seen many buyers' comments saying that they discarded these cheap recorders because they broke down after a few uses. In order to reduce the cost, manufacturers reduce the quality of plastic recorders, which leads to a decrease in the service life, resulting in a lot of waste.

Plastic Recorders on an Online Shopping App

The second problem is the consumption of raw materials and energy in the production process. The source of plastics is oil and gas, and according to Wikipedia, the raw material and energy required to produce 1 kg of abs plastic are approximately equivalent to the production of 2 kg of oil. According to statistics from Yamaha in 2015, the world produces about 19.5 million plastic recorders per year. The weight of one single recorder is 0.13kg, so according to my calculations, the world needs 2535 tons of abs plastic raw materials per year for plastic recorders, not including the waste part.

The Production of Abs Plastic

The final issue is the difficulty to recycle the abs plastic. Although there are already some ways to recycle industrial waste plastics, there are still difficulties in applying them to our daily lives. Imagine throwing away your recorder in the garbage without thinking anything about recycling. Nowadays, society is focusing on the recycling of plastics as well. Take the example of Lego, a huge user of abs plastic. Lego has promised to invest £310 million in sustainable material renovations after complaints of a lack of sustainability. Since 2015, LEGO engineers and scientists have been testing a wide range of plant and recycled materials in response to this project.

Discarded Abs Plastic

In my opinion, there could be two solutions to solve these issues. First, just like Lego, explore new eco-friendly materials to make recorders. Fortunately, there is already a successful example. In 2015, Yamaha China released China's first recorder using bioplastic(in the pic below). The raw material is a biologically derived plastic, and the CO2 emissions that occur during the process from resource collection to disposal can be cut by about 20% compared to the original use of abs plastic from petroleum. But its cost went up, and the price of a recorder rose to $180HKD, and sales were mediocre in consequence. So I guess there would be a long way to go for this approach. Another way is to change compulsory recorder education to optional. Let those children who are truly interested in music learn to play the recorder, and I believe they will take good care of their little instrument rather than wasting or ruining it.

 Yamaha's Bioplastic Recorders

References:
 
1. China Youth Network (CYN). “China's First Recorder Using Bioplastics.” China Daily. Last modified April 23, 2015. https://cn.chinadaily.com.cn/2015-04/23/content_20520260.htm
2. Fay, “Plastic Recorders Are Good Instruments, Here's Why,” Woodwind Breeze, https://woodwindbreeze.com/plastic-recorders-good-instruments/
3. Great Big Story, “Why We Were Forced to Play the Recorder,” Youtube, January 8, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET9k10btZ0Y
4. Sam Elliott. “Lego Vows to Spend £310m to Transform Its Bricks Using Sustainable Materials.” Mirror. Last modified September 15, 2020. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/lego-vows-spend-310m-transform-22689541
5. Yamaha Corporation of America. “The Recorder: It’s an Instrument, Not a Toy.” Yamaha & Terms. Last modified January 17, 2019. https://hub.yamaha.com/winds/w-history/the-recorder-its-an-instrument-not-a-toy/