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Asda stocks environmentally friendly CDs

July 2, 2007 at 2:58 am

The supermarket Asda recently announced that it will become the UK’s first supermarket to exclusively stock a wide and diverse range of environmentally friendly CDs, which come in fully compostable packaging. Asda has always been a supermarket with a green conscience and has often done research into the relationship between the consumer world and the planet. The supermarket even has its own website, called ASDA’s Big Recycle Website which primarily targets children of a young age in order to educate them about how they can help to save the environment through recycling. This latest news concerning CDs follows Asda’s recent research into CD recycling, which found that up to 25% of all plastic CD covers are thrown away within 12 months of purchase.

The new CD packaging will be made from 100% recycled and recyclable paper-foam (which can be recycled along with newspapers and magazines) and will be stocked in all of Asda’s 336 stores in the very near future. Furthermore, no booklets will be sold with the CDs (the production of CD booklets uses a lot of paper which is often wasted as many people will never so much as glance at their contents) but will be available from the Universal Music website. Asda will call this new range the ‘Ecopac’ range and it will be manufactured in conjunction with Universal Music. There will be CDs available for all tastes and all age groups, from Marvin Gaye to Marilyn Manson.

Many music fans, both young and old, are eager to help make the country more sustainable and they are likely to enthusiastically accept Asda’s scheme, especially as it coincides with other events in the music world such as the Glastonbury festival and Live Earth. Live Earth actually marks the start of a multi-year mass persuasion campaign led by The Alliance for Climate Protection, which aims to instigate real action from all levels of society to help save the planet. Both this event and Glastonbury present a need to entertain but also to educate the public about issues concerning the environment and saving the planet through recycling. Asda’s scheme combines these two priorities and is likely to appeal to many people.

There is further evidence to suggest that Asda’s scheme will be a success. Asda’s parent company, Wal-Mart introduced the same scheme approximately 6 months ago. More than 2 million copies of the environmentally friendly CDs have been sold to date, with this figure only set to rise in the coming months. Both schemes from Wal-Mart and Asda interestingly coincide with a new awareness concerning the need to recycle old and unwanted CDs. Although the supermarkets have provided us with a good scheme to cut down on wasteful packaging, the problem remains as to how to recycle the actual CD itself. However, rather than throwing CDs in the bin, try these quick tips: