OFFCELL • Still Here • 12"

A little word on PPWR

Chances are you've already heard of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, aka PPWR.

As the name suggests, the whole idea is to reduce packaging waste and make us all a little more conscious of our environmental footprint. Which is, obviously, a good thing.

Let's face it, though: pressing vinyl records is already something of an ecological nightmare. And we haven't even started talking about the bonkers ways records sometimes travel halfway around the world before ending up on your turntable.

Here at NOT SORRY, we try to keep things as sensible as possible. We ship in cardboard mailers, use paper-based packing materials and plastic-free tape, and usually throw in just a few flyers and stickers. Some records arrive shrink-wrapped in plastic, others don't.

We're pretty sure you know how to recycle all this stuff, but if you're ever unsure, just drop us a line at weare@not-sorry.de and we'll figure it out together.

In Germany, we're already registered with LUCID and pay the required packaging recycling fees. So please throw the cardboard into your paper recycling bin and any plastic wrapping into the appropriate recycling bin. We've already paid for the recycling, so please do your part! :-*

Unfortunately, there's also a rather massive downside to all this for tiny businesses like ours.

The new packaging rules come with additional registration, reporting and recycling obligations across the EU. Depending on the country, this could mean a whole lot of paperwork and extra costs just to send someone a couple of records. And for a small label, that's potentially a serious problem.

We're all for reducing waste and taking responsibility for the packaging we use. But making it increasingly difficult for small independent businesses to ship across borders doesn't exactly feel like the best way to achieve that.

So, what does this mean for your orders?

For now, nothing changes. We'll continue shipping records everywhere as usual while we keep an eye on how the new rules develop and what they actually mean for small businesses like ours.

We really hope we won't have to stop shipping to certain countries, but unfortunately, we can't rule that out just yet.

We'll keep you posted. And in the meantime, thanks for supporting us and our bands. It really means a lot! ❤️