Since the 1970s, D'Addario has been making strings for guitars, instruments and more with an eye toward the future—but back then, no one at the Farmingdale, New York, company could have expected that the future would involve melting metal strings.
After decades of prioritizing music education for children through the D'Addario Foundationparticularly in underserved communities, the company began Reproduction in 2015, which prioritizes sustainability. The program reuses used guitars and orchestral strings in collaboration with a recycling company TerraCycle. Metal strings are melted down into new alloys, while nylon strings are recycled for industrial plastic applications — keeping both out of landfills, where more than 1.5 million pounds of strings accumulate each year, according to Playback. To participate, people can drop strings into bins at one of nearly 1,200 collection locations across the country, including hundreds of Guitar Centers and independent retailers, or mail them themselves, as long as shipments are over 5 pounds, to minimize waste. (D'Addario provides prepaid UPS shipping labels for such donors.)
To date, nearly 13 million chords have been recycled through Playback. Acts such as U2, My Morning Jacket and Young the Giant have drawn attention to the initiative, with the latter donating a percentage of every ticket sold from the 2023 summer tour to the D'Addario Foundation. In addition, the company has partnered with competitors and its website provides links to international string recycling organizations in France and Slovakia as well. “We want to do what's good for the entire industry,” says Brian Vance, D'Addario's vice president of laces and accessories.
In 2022, D'Addario founded World Chord Change Day to increase interest in the program. The concept encourages consumers to try new strings and other accessories, often through promotions. It will return for a third year on June 6. “The moment you pull out your strings, it goes straight into the playback bin,” says chief marketing officer Jonathan Turitz. The D'Addario Foundation has also led drives for those who want to donate used instruments, many of which end up in the hands of students in need. The practice of repairing used instruments for children was highlighted in the recent Oscar-winning documentary The Last Repair Shop. “This movie is exactly the story of what we're doing,” Turitz says, “whether it's the people in the store or the kids.”
Playback aims to expand globally in the coming years, although logistical issues and costs stand in the way. “The laws, methodologies and recycling practices in Europe are very different than in the U.S.,” says Vance, though later this year, D'Addario hopes to test scaling the program overseas. And despite the mounting costs involved in making the program a success, D'Addario's ultimate mission remains at the forefront. “We're facing an existential crisis,” says Turitz. “It is vital that we put the planet before profit.”
This story originally appeared in the March 30, 2024 issue Advertising sign.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/business/business-news/daddario-playback-program-string-recycling-music-1235643522/