Green Toys

Katie Broughton, Toy Design at Wild Planet

• Wild Planet doesn’t go to far with eco-friendly toys, but Katie is trying to move that way
• Katie has done toy design for 10 years
• What makes a toy green?:
  • Materials
  • Manufacturing process * location
  • Technology
  • Longevity
  • Recyclability
  • Packaging
  • Theme/educational content

Materials

Wood

• FSC certified “Forestry Stewardship Council”, very expensive
• Bamboo: grows really fast
• Rubberwood: 25-year life-span, harvested after the useful latex-producing life of the tree is past
• Wood appropriate for classic toys, but not high tech
• Haba: E-Racer Suzuka bamboo car was designed to use the natural bamboo stalks
• Plan Toys: uses a lot of rubber wood

Cardboard

• Kits and plans available

Plush

• Stuffed animals
• Knitted wool, organic cotton
• Young kids put everything in their mouths so parents will pay a premium
• Tofu Bear made from soybean fibers
• 95% of filler is polyfill, weighted toys are plastic pellets, organic toys are cotton which is lumpy
• Looked into t-shirt debris as filler, problems were: needles, animal products and other contaminants

Plastics and Bioplastics

• Recycled
• Bioplastics, corn-based and cheese-based, expensive and just starting to get into production quantities
• SprigWood – MDF wood-pulp in a binder
• All plastic except PVC can be recycled at the factory, but quality goes down 80%
• For some things like toothbrushes, strength is not as important, but with kids toys they need to be strong so can’t have as much recycled product
• PVC: isn’t recyclable and some has phallates, but it is soft and can be run rubbery so it comes out of molds even with some undercuts, takes paint beautifully, can adjust softness
• Helps when all toy companies implement regulation changes at the same time, otherwise the first-adopters pay a penalty
• Bio plastics have temperature stability issues – Toys are shipped without air-conditioning from China in summer months and bio-plastics might melt
• Green Toys were planning on making a tea-set out of corn-based bioplastics, but used recycled plastic instead. Maybe it was too expensive and not as durable
• 100% corn-based bio-plastics don’t degrade in normal landfill – needs heat and other processes

Paint

• Can use burned word instead of paint

Manufacturing Process and Location

• 70-80% of all toys sold in the US are made in China. Reasons: cost and centralization of all services
• Some companies moving inland or Vietnam or lower cost areas, but not as good at high-tech and complicated toys
• Some companies make toys in US, like legacy factories – Crayola, Slinky – and simple or large wooden products. These tend to be low in labor or expensive to ship
• One company making plush in Kenya

Technology

• Challenges: e-waste, batteries
• Solutions: solar, kid-powered, hydrogen, new battery technologies
• Button cells had mercury, alternatives didn’t have the longevity but now there is a mercury-free battery
• Solar is expensive and doesn’t work indoors or at night

Longevity

• Classic toys are often considered Green even if made of plastic because they get used a lot and handed down
• Legos, Playmobil, or heirloom toys
• Contrapoint: McDonalds Happy Meal is designed to be fun for 15 minutes

Recyclability

• Really hard to do unless simple, one-material product
• Safety: Have to design them so they don’t come apart easily, especially if electronics inside
• No infrastructure in US to recycle complex plastics

Packaging

• Big opportunity to Green up the toy industry
• Large relative to product size
• Lots of PVC
• Green Packaging: Cardboard, paper pulp, small or no packaging, inks and printing

Greening Walmart

• Pretty serious about packaging side.
• Packaging metrics: efficiency (how much air), transportation miles, materials
• This can have a big impact and if everyone is affected at the same time, there is no competitive disadvantage
• However, it is difficult if there are different standards for each large retailer – better if they merged into 1 standard

Theme/Educational Content

• Toys that teach green concepts
• Toys that encourage creative reuse
• Example: paper recycling kit