The ‘Environmentally Sound’ campaign developed by Walterwakefield and Spicers Paper Australia in 2007, promoted the environmental credentials of Monza Recycled paper, while demonstrating how to recycle contemporary music through the widespread practice of music sampling.
‘Making a popular paper stock cool again.’ - Walterwakefield 2018b
How is this campaign ‘environmentally sound’?
Music sampling is defined as ‘the art of recycling portions of existing recordings and using them in new compositions’ (Walterwakefield 2018b). This allows artists and composers to regenerate sounds for the consumption and appreciation of new audiences.
As we know, recorded sound creates musical experiences that remain in the memory. So what impact does sampling have on this? Sampling is a form of recycling that in fact, regenerates sounds for the appreciation of future generations. Rather than focusing on new sounds, sampling works with what we already have and repackages this in a new way for audiences. Likewise, Monza Recycled paper does the same thing with its paper and artwork.
This campaign was successful as it drew similarities between the use of recycled paper and the recycled qualities of music sampling to encourage the regeneration of products. Monza Recycled paper has 55 per cent recycled content and FSC mixed source certification (i.e. made with forest materials from responsible sources). As well as this, the campaign showcased 12 inch limited edition records, all pressed on recycled vinyl and completed with custom designed sleeves printed on Monza Recycled paper (Walterwakefield 2018a).
Like our aim, this campaign used samples as a method to demonstrate ‘remix culture’. But what exactly is remix culture? Remix Culture promotes the renewal, remake and repacking of existing material to ‘recirculate the old in a new guise’ (Shatze 2007). We are pleased to see other campaigns that like ours, use music as an educational tool to encourage recycling. We hope to see many other collaborations between artists and organisations that want to boost their corporate social responsibility by promoting initiatives like this!
For more information, please read:
Shatz, B 2007, ‘Samples from the Heap: Notes on Recycling the Detritus of a Remixed
Culture’, Remix Theory, 15 January, accessed 8 October 2018,
<https://remixtheory.net/?p=84>.
Walterwakefield 2018a, ‘Re-mix, re-use and recycle with Monza’, Walterwakefield, accessed
8 October 2018, <https://www.walterwakefield.com.au/cases/re-mix-re-use-and-recycle-withmonza>.
Walterwakefield 2018b, ‘Using creativity to breathe new life into your products’, accessed 8 October 2018, <https://www.walterwakefield.com.au/cases/using-creativity-to-breathe-newlife-into-your-products>.
Author: Isabella Mazzarolo
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