I have neither supported the numerous insane proposals for the use of hemp to replace every single tangible thing in the universe or been big on the production of the marijuana plant in general. I have, however, just recently purged every CD case I own because I have CD spindles and a large CD tote that I keep all my CDs in. That’s almost 50 pounds of petroleum-based plastic heading to a landfill because there is no local place to recycle said unusable refuse. With downloadable songs and MP3 compilation CDs burned from a home computer to run in an MP3-compatible CD player, the pressed music CD is becoming rapidly outdated. Consumption of music is increasing in volume and speed of adoption. It is more likely now to make it in the music industry with nothing more than MySpace samples and a CDBaby account than it is trying to hock your plastic discs at the local Sam Goody.

CD cases were originally created from plastic for a number of reasons. For starters, they were three-dimensional surfaces, meaning they had 6 sides on which to attach labels and indicators, A better idea when stacked because you can see the names of artist and album easier. The tray also had a spindle, called a hub, that was specifically designed to allow a snug fit and avoidance of surface-to-surface contact between the disc and the tray which could cause scratches if dust was present. Finally, it was water splash resistant, meaning if you splashed liquid onto the surface of the case it wouldn’t damage the case itself, ensuring the insert and CD were protected.

CD cases, called jewel cases, have had some drawbacks, however. Other than the fact that there are few places that recycle the plastic, the cases had small, weak tabs on the arms of the front cover that would easily break if dropped or hit. The hub, usually made from a series of thin plastic tabs in a circle made to bend in and release the CD for use, would often break, making the hub unusable and the CD bounce around in the case.

Hemp cardboard or pasteboardwould be an interesting tactic to replace petroleum-based CD cases. There are other paper-based options that would also make sense. The bottom line is that natural fiber packaging would be more sustainable for the music industry than plastics. And the outdated process of vinyl record recording and packaging proves that it is not unheard of to pursue this kind of initiative. Records were protected from scratching by a paper sleeve within the cardboard cover, primarily because the cover was produced with soft fiber that tended to not only hold foreign particles on its inner surface but hold an imperfect inner surface that itself would have caused scratches to occur. There was no hub to separate the surface of a record from the cover, and so even inserting and removing a record in a case was potentially harmful to the medium.

Sustainability means finding viable opportunities to reduce our footprint on the environment. Cardboard cases have been in production for a while now. The next step is to make them an industry standard and find alternative materials that would reduce the amount of wood-based pulp used in production. If not hemp or kenaf (a member of the Hibiscus species), then at least 100% recycled cardboard. The last measure in that initiative is to develop with the plastics industry a central repository for jewel case recycling.

Support sustainability in all industries, and reduction of frivolous production practices in the creative industry!