The Henkel-owned haircare giant has partnered with the waste management company to make its retail hair care, color and styling products recyclable across the US. The sustainability push will see shoppers invited to collect their empty packaging from Schwarzkopf products, and send them to TerraCycle. Empties will then be recycled and transformed into new products such as park benches, bike racks, pet food bowls and recycling bins.   "We're proud that 100% of Schwarzkopf retail product packaging will now be recyclable," Manuela Emmrich, Marketing Director, Hair US, Henkel Beauty Care, said in a statement. "Through the TerraCycle/ Schwarzkopf program, there is now a solution for hair product packaging that has historically been difficult to recycle, due to a myriad of curb-side recycling program requirements." "The expansion of Henkel's partnership with TerraCycle is an important part of Henkel's commitment to a circular economy for plastic and sustainable packaging, and our target of ensuring 100 percent of our Beauty and Laundry & Home Care packaging is recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025," added Martina Spinatsch, Vice President, R&D, Beauty Care, Henkel North America. Three different Schwarzkopf Recycling Programs have been established to deal with aerosols, hair coloration products and all other packaging, with individuals, schools, offices and community organizations all encouraged to participate. Collectors can be rewarded for their efforts by earning points that can be used for charity gifts or converted to cash and donated to the non-profit, school; or charitable organization of their choice. Schwarzkopf is not the only beauty brand turning to TerraCycle to up its recycling game -- Herbal Essences, Garnier USA and Gillette have all recently launched initiatives with the company.

The Henkel-owned haircare giant has partnered with the waste management company to make its retail hair care, color and styling products recyclable across the US. The sustainability push will see shoppers invited to collect their empty packaging from Schwarzkopf products, and send them to TerraCycle. Empties will then be recycled and transformed into new products such as park benches, bike racks, pet food bowls and recycling bins.   "We're proud that 100% of Schwarzkopf retail product packaging will now be recyclable," Manuela Emmrich, Marketing Director, Hair US, Henkel Beauty Care, said in a statement. "Through the TerraCycle/ Schwarzkopf program, there is now a solution for hair product packaging that has historically been difficult to recycle, due to a myriad of curb-side recycling program requirements." "The expansion of Henkel's partnership with TerraCycle is an important part of Henkel's commitment to a circular economy for plastic and sustainable packaging, and our target of ensuring 100 percent of our Beauty and Laundry & Home Care packaging is recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025," added Martina Spinatsch, Vice President, R&D, Beauty Care, Henkel North America. Three different Schwarzkopf Recycling Programs have been established to deal with aerosols, hair coloration products and all other packaging, with individuals, schools, offices and community organizations all encouraged to participate. Collectors can be rewarded for their efforts by earning points that can be used for charity gifts or converted to cash and donated to the non-profit, school; or charitable organization of their choice. Schwarzkopf is not the only beauty brand turning to TerraCycle to up its recycling game -- Herbal Essences, Garnier USA and Gillette have all recently launched initiatives with the company.

Companies like Coca-Cola used to collect 98 percent of their bottles, and new entrepreneurs are learning from their tactics. TRENTON, NEW JERSEYIn the flood of innovative solutions that have emerged in the last several years to save the world from plastic pollution, Tom Szaky’s fix may be one of the most audacious. Don’t misunderstand. He has not tried to come up with yet another formula to make plastic magically biodegrade like leaves on the ground, a goal of many entrepreneurs that remains elusive. Nor has he devised new ways to remake disposable plastic packaging into new plastic packaging. Instead, Szaky has gone old school with a concept that dates to the turn of the last century—returnable, refillable containers. The idea was introduced to the world by Coca-Cola in the early 1920s, when Coke was sold in expensive glass bottles that the company’s bottlers needed back. They charged a two-cent deposit, roughly 40 percent of the full cost of the soft drink, and got about 98 percent of their bottles back, to be reused 40 or 50 times. Bottle deposit programs remain one of the most effective methods ever invented for recovering packaging. Ten months ago, Szaky launched Loop, an online delivery service that uses sturdy, reusable containers. The bold part of his venture—or risk, if you are one of his financial backers—is that Loop pushes far beyond the uniformity of returnable beverage bottles and sells more than 300 items, from food to laundry detergent, in containers of various sizes and made from various materials. His signature product is Haagen-Dazs ice cream that comes packed inside a sleek, insulated stainless steel tub guaranteed to prevent its contents from melting. Slightly disheveled in jeans and a hoodie, Szaky looks every bit the millennial entrepreneur. Now 38, he dropped out of Princeton 17 years ago to become an innovator in the garbage business. He founded TerraCycle, a small waste management company, 10 miles from the Princeton campus. He figured out a way to recycle diapers, cigarette butts, and a long list of other non-recyclables. In time, he became more interested in restoring the circularity of that earlier era and eliminating the disposability from packaging altogether. “Loop’s theory is let’s learn from the past and go back to a model where when you buy your deodorant, you’re borrowing the package and just paying for the content,” he says.   This refillable steel Häagen-Dazs ice cream container is from Loop, a company that packages everyday items into reusable containers. Loop is part of the resurgence of refillables as a serious option to plastic waste. The beverage industry is expanding its use of returnable bottles; an Oregon brewery claims to have started the United States’ first state-wide refillable beer system. More significantly, efforts like Loop’s to reinvent packaging for products that don’t fit easily into the refillable category have attracted startups and some of the world’s largest corporate players. Starbucks and McDonalds are partnering in a pilot program in California known as the NextGen Cup Challenge to sell coffee in reusable cups. If it works, the companies could spare the world the remains of billions of paper cups lined with a thin film of plastic that prevents leakage. And in Chile, a small startup called Algramo is working to replace single-serving packets known as sachets that are sold by the billions in Africa and Asia. The concept was to make coffee, toothpaste and other products affordable to impoverished people who couldn’t afford to buy in larger amounts. Sachets are mostly not recyclable and have made the glut of plastic litter in those nations worse. Algramo, whose name means “by the gram” in Spanish, is creating a vending machine system to dispense food and cleaning products into reusable containers. Last December, it won the National Geographic and Sky Ventures Ocean Plastic Innovation Challenge’s prize for using circular economy principles and a $100,000 purse. As Szaky tours Loop’s warehouse, where newly filled containers are shipped out and returned empties taken in, he notes the irony that this age-old method has only flowered again because waste has become a global crisis. “Five years ago, we couldn’t have done this,” he says. No one would have signed on. Not consumers, who pay a healthy, refundable deposit. And not the companies he’s convinced to join his experiment. Consumers and product retailers might have laughed at the idea as too unrealistic and inconvenient, neither being the ingredients for success.The shipping expenses alone, which involve up to six transfers, would have given investors pause. Then, almost overnight, the game changed. Szaky pitched his idea to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and convinced Nestle, Unilever, Proctor & Gamble, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, among others, to sign on.

A spotlight on plastic waste grows

It’s easy to lose sight of how quickly the landscape of plastics has shifted. Only a decade ago scientists and plastic manufacturers and retailers were still arguing about whether disposable plastic was even a serious issue. In 2011, when Ocean Conservancy met with scientists, activists, and plastics industry executives in an effort to set up what eventually became, in 2012, the Trash Free Alliance so all parties could work together, no consensus on the issue existed. “There was the question, is this just unsightly or a real problem?” recalls George Leonard, the conservancy’s chief scientist. “People retracted back into their corners. The NGOs said, ‘The world is coming to an end,’ and the industry sector said, ‘We don’t think it’s a problem.’” The debate effectively ended with publication in 2015 of the first solid numbers showing plastic waste washing into the ocean at an average rate of 8.5 million tons a year. The years that followed produced a glut of anti-plastic campaigns, bans of shopping bags and other products, pledges by retailers to use more recycled plastic in new packaging, industry investment in recycling facilities, and cleanups of existing waste. A count of scientific studies assembled by Richard Thompson, the British marine scientist who coined the term microplastics, reveals how rapidly plastic came to be considered an environmental crisis. In 2011, the year of Leonard’s meeting, 103 scientific studies containing the words “plastic” and “pollution” were published. The count in 2019, using the same code words, was 879 studies. “Thank goodness we’re over the hump,” says Chelsea Rochman, a marine scientist at the University of Toronto who is leading a working group of scientists trying to sort out which of the various solutions are most effective. The consulting firm Systemiq, with offices in London, Munich, and Indonesia, is also making a similar assessment. The results of both projects may further shape the debate on how to proceed. In the meantime, it helps to consider where things stand today: Of the 9.2 billion tons of plastic ever manufactured, 6.9 billion tons have become waste. Most of that—6.3 billion tons, or to put it another way, a whopping 91 percent—has never been recycled. The number seemed so shocking that the UK’s Royal Statistical Society named it the international statistic of the year in 2018. That’s the same year that China stopped buying the world’s waste, and recycling has only become more troubled since. Beyond recycling, 12 percent of plastic waste is incinerated, mostly in Europe and Asia. About 79 percent goes to a landfill or leaks into the natural environment. As a measure of how quickly plastic production accelerated in recent decades, half of all plastics ever made has been produced since 2013. Production is projected to double in the next 20 years, according to a 2016 report by the World Economic Forum. Finally, plastic is exceedingly cheap to make. And its low cost is one of the main impediments to developing an economically viable, global system for recycling or otherwise disposing of plastic waste. “Recycled and reclaimed plastic has little value. Virgin plastic is cheaper to make,” Leonard says. “Why would you do anything else other than make more new plastic? It’s not a good business decision to do anything else.”

Back to the future

Aside from the economics, most of the solutions that might reduce plastic waste are hobbled by a passel of problems: still-to-be-solved technical challenges, misinformation, a lack of uniform standards that leaves consumers confused. Biodegradables often don’t actually biodegrade, especially in the oceans, where they’re much more likely to fracture into microplastics. Most compostables need very high heat to break down, requiring processing in special, industrial composters. Compostable material will not biodegrade, for example, in landfill. The two terms are often used interchangeably by consumers, but are not the same. Material labeled biodegradable can contaminate compostable material if added to the mix. Mechanical recycling, which involves grinding plastic waste into small bits that are melted and remade into new plastics, is also easily contaminated by incompatible types of plastic, dirt, and food residue. Plastics reprocessed by this method can only be remade so many times before losing strength and other characteristics. Chemical recycling, which returns plastics to their requisite molecules, alleviates much of both problems. Industry analysts regard it as the option showing the most promise, and the numbers of companies involved in developing chemical recycling is growing. But it’s still a big bet. It’s expensive and questions remain as to whether it can be scaled up enough to make a difference. In any event, both forms of recycling, as well as composting, are dependent on what remains the most dysfunctional component of dealing with plastic waste: Someone has to collect it all and sort it. Loop first launched last May in and around New York and Paris. It plans to expand to the UK, Toronto, and Tokyo later this year, and to Germany and Australia in 2021. The product line, Szaky says, grows by one or two a week and a new retailer joins, on average, once a month. Because consumer behavior is very hard to change, Szaky thinks the refillables business must come as close as it can to mimicking the ordinary shopping experience. He has partnered with Walgreens and Kroeger to set up aisles of refillables, similar to bulk food aisles, making refillables even more convenient to use. As technicalities of handling plastic waste are eventually resolved, it is the consumers who may become the toughest challenge of all. Plastic as a material is not the villain, but the way it’s used, he says, and the idea of single-use plastic is a concept that is now 70 years old. He poses a rhetorical question: “What do we as shoppers care about? Convenience, affordability, and performance. Not one of those three things has anything to do with sustainability.” He argues that consumers are the most important actors in sorting out the plastics mess, with the ability to effect corporate change with their wallets. “We vote blindly, day after day after day, with money, telling companies what we want, and we need to take that seriously,” he says. “We should buy less and make sure the things we buy are circular.”

Move over dermatologists. With consumers digging deeper into ingredients, there’s rising interest in skincare from founders with different advanced degrees: scientists. Dermatologists might know a lot about treating skin, but scientists create the formulas.

  Among the skincare brands started by the evidence-loving bunch are Augustinus Bader, Good Science Beauty and Skin Actives Scientific. The latest example of a scientist-led brand is Noble Panacea, a luxury line selling a 30-day dose of its Absolute Intense Renewal Serum for $420 that’s based on research by Sir Fraser Stoddart, a Nobel Laureate and director of the Center for Chemistry of Integrated Systems at Northwestern University.   Admitting he isn’t a typical beauty entrepreneur, Stoddart says he serendipitously discovered what he named Organic Molecular Vessels (OMV), a time-released delivery method engineered from natural starches that drives Noble Panacea’s products. The method protects active ingredients such as retinol and peptides at the molecular level to preserve their potency until they can be released at the moment of need, explains Noble Panacea CEO Celine Talabaza. Put simply, she equates them to little houses with windows that open at the perfect point. The brand asserts OMV increases the efficacy of its products up to tenfold.     Following its launch in November, Noble Panacea is premiering today on Net-a-Porter and scheduled to enter Harrods in April. “Net-a-Porter has personal shoppers and offers the perfect one-on-one conversations to help educate people about the line,” says Talabaza, a product and marketing veteran who previously occupied roles at L’Oréal, Unilever and LVMH Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy. Scientists don’t always make the best beauty marketers and her leadership is seen as a plus for the nascent brand.   Sustainability is a central tenant of Noble Panacea. OMV production is reported to be environmentally-friendly. It involves crystallization of carbohydrate and salt in a closed-loop, renewable process that doesn’t yield waste. Water is reused and re-purified in the production process. The packaging is equally environmentally-conscious. Mirroring the shape of the OMV technology, Noble Panacea’s octagon recyclable containers are composed of a starch substance. Also encased in a recyclable material, the products are individually packaged in so-called Active Daily Doses to ensure freshness. A refill option will be available later this year.     Talabaza emphasizes that emerging beauty brands have to be sustainable—and she’s adamant they must have a clear point of difference. She says, “If you are creating something new, you better do it right and come at all angles that are good for the environment.” Touting Noble Panacea’s sleek containers as a “modern take on high tech,” Talabaza continues, “Sustainable doesn’t have to lack aesthetic appeal.” The brand’s launch event last year was a black-tie event attended by a select group at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Talabaza says Noble Panacea decided to celebrate amid works of art “because Sir Fraser himself is an artist in chemistry.”   Noble Panacea has two collections: The Absolute and The Brilliant. Sporting lighter formulations and featuring bakuchiol, The Brilliant focuses on protective formulas and is especially good for younger skin. The Absolute has retinols and peptides for mature skin. “Although we strive for natural, we know the importance of retinols because they really work,” says Talabaza. The ingredients in Noble Panacea’s products are detailed on the brand’s website, which has a virtual concierge to guide customers. On the site, they can opt into the recycling program with TerraCycle by requesting a label for their empty Active Daily Doses.     The Brilliant collection consists of the Prime Radiance Serum Vibrant Eye Infusion, Radiant Resilience Moisturizer and Overnight Recharge Cream. Its prices range from $149 for the Eye Infusion to $253 for the Serum. The Absolute collection has the Intense Renewal Serum, Restoring Eye Cream, Active Replenishing Moisturizer and Rejuvenation Night Balm. The Restoring Eye Cream is the entry price point at $239, and the serum is the highest price point at $420. Talabaza says clinical tests show improvements in one week and substantially greater results in eight weeks.   The more than 40 years of research Stoddart has put into molecular studies is reflected in the hefty price tags, along with lofty concentration of quality ingredients batched in small doses. Talabaza isn’t shaken by any predictions of a skincare slowdown because of the positioning of the brand. She says, “We don’t talk about anti-aging, we talk about ageless solutions or well-aging, and we don’t have too many steps, but you do see results.” Noble Panacea declined to share a revenue projection for this year. By way of comparison, Augustinus Bader has racked up sales exceeding $6 million and is expected to hit $20 million in the next few years.   In addition to its commitment to sustainability, Noble Panacea checks off another box important to contemporary consumers—giving back. It’s committed to a three-year partnership with Girl Up, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting the health, safety, education and leadership of girls.

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — A program to recycle energy bar wrappers is ending in a Wyoming town known for outdoor sports and elsewhere.   After four years, a recycling center in Jackson will stop taking Clif Bar wrappers.   Clif Bar offered the recycling since 2008 through a partnership with TerraCycle, a company specializing in hard-to-recycle materials.   The company collected the wrappers to be melted down into hard plastic. It donated a penny per wrapper to the American Releaf Program, which plants trees in areas affected by wildfires, mining, development and other disruption.   The program raised about $500,000 from wrappers collected at 14,500 locations, according to its website.   The program required recycling workers in Jackson to sort through and throw out everything that wasn't a foil-lined energy bar wrapper, the Jackson Hole News & Guide reports.   The center needed to collect 50 pounds (23 kilograms) of wrappers before shipping them.   Clif Bar pledges on its website to create packaging that’s 100% “reusable, recyclable, or compostable” by 2025. The company did not respond to News & Guide requests for comment.

Waterloo North Hydro (WNH), a local electricity distribution company, has teamed up with TerraCycle  to recycle traditionally unrecyclable coffee bags through the Zero Waste Box program.   Sustainability and environmental stewardship are core values of  WNH and its employees. The organization’s commitment to the environment has helped make it a leader in sustainability and its employees play a key role in promoting environmental awareness both at the office and in the communities WNH serves.   As part of its commitment to the environment, WNH employees have collected coffee bag waste from the office for responsible disposal through a local resource. Recently, when the local disposal option became nonviable, WNH’s Green Team identified TerraCycle’s Zero Waste Box program as a convenient way to continue diverting coffee bag waste from the landfill.   By placing the Coffee Bags Zero Waste Box in the employee lunch room, WNH encourages employees to recycle coffee bags used in the office and to bring in their coffee waste from home.   Like most plastic packaging, these conventionally unrecyclable coffee bags would have otherwise been landfilled, incinerated, or contributed to the pollution of marine habitats. The collected packaging will now be recycled into a variety of new products, including park benches, bike racks, shipping pallets and recycling bins.   TerraCycle, the world’s leader in the collection and repurposing of complex waste streams, created the Zero Waste Box program to provide solutions for difficult-to-recycle waste that cannot be recycled through TerraCycle’s brand-sponsored, national recycling programs or via standard municipal recycling.   WNH hopes TerraCycle’s Zero Waste Box will help encourage employees to be mindful of their waste production inside and outside of the office.   "TerraCycle offers us another option to do the right thing as a business to be a responsible member of the community in Waterloo,” says Will Stratford, WNH’s Manager of HSE and Sustainability. “If you would try to reduce your impact on the environment at home, why not do it at work too?"     More information regarding Waterloo North Hydro can be found by visiting their website, www.wnhydro.com.   All collected materials from the Zero Waste Box program are sent to TerraCycle for recycling, where they undergo a series of treatments before getting turned into new items. For more information on TerraCycle, please visit www.TerraCycle.ca.   TerraCycle offers Zero Waste Boxes for nearly every category of waste. By purchasing Zero Waste Boxes, companies and consumers save trash from landfills and help reach TerraCycle’s goal of creating a waste-free world.   About Waterloo North Hydro Waterloo North Hydro Inc. is regulated and licensed by the Ontario Energy Board to provide all regulated electricity distribution services to more than 57,000 business and residential customers in the City of Waterloo, Township of Wellesley and the Township of Woolwich. It is jointly owned by the City of Waterloo and the Townships of Wellesley and Woolwich.   About TerraCycle TerraCycle is an innovative waste management company with a mission to eliminate the idea of waste. Operating nationally across 21 countries, TerraCycle partners with leading consumer product companies, retailers and cities to recycle products and packages, from dirty diapers to cigarette butts, that would otherwise end up being landfilled or incinerated. In addition, TerraCycle works with leading consumer product companies to integrate hard to recycle waste streams, such as ocean plastic, into their products and packaging. Its new division, Loop, is the first shopping system that gives consumers a way to shop for their favorite brands in durable, reusable packaging. TerraCycle also sells Zero Waste Boxes that are purchased by end users to recycle items in offices, homes, factories and public facilities. TerraCycle has won over 200 awards for sustainability and has donated over $44 million to schools and charities since its founding more than 15 years ago and was named #10 in Fortune magazine’s list of 52 companies Changing the World. To learn more about TerraCycle or get involved in its recycling programs, please visit www.TerraCycle.ca.

Beauty isn’t just about expressing our natural external beauty. It’s about showing our inner personality while caring for the world God created. Here are 6 beauty companies that are making a difference in the environment through natural ingredients, packaging and earth care…  

1. Lush has a “less is more” philosophy for packaging. Your body will love their ingredients, your heart will love their handmade goods and the earth loves their minimal packaging. Available in store and online.
2. Meow Meow Tweet’s products, if used properly, go a long way and their products and cardboard packing are biodegradable. Available online and at Target.
3. Love Beauty and Planet packages their products in post-consumer recycled plastic to reduce waste. Our favorite products are their fast rinsing conditioners (which help save water during showers) and their aerosol free hairspray. Available online, at Target and
4. Seed Phytonutrients uses shower safe cardboard that can be separated from their minimalist plastic containers for easy recycling. Their paper packaging is compostable, and every product includes a seed packet that you can plant in your backyard! Available Online.
5. Ethique knows that bar products are safer on the environment than products stored in plastic bottles. All their products (including their shampoo) are in long-lasting bar form. Available at Amazon.
6. Splat Naturals Semi-Permanent Hair Color offers anything but natural colors, but they use minimal packaging and healthy ingredients, so have fun picking an outrageous shade to express your vibrant personality. Available online.

  Here are a few other tips for “going green” when it comes to your beauty products.  

Buy the biggest bottles possible.

Purchasing one extra-large bottle saves a lot of plastic compared to buying multiple smaller bottles.  

Not all packaging is recyclable.

Terracycle.com allows you to recycle your beauty products for free. Just join, collect your used beauty products, download a free shipping label and send in your waste to be recycled.  The following beauty brands are a part of their program:  

• Burt’s Bees
• Gillette and Venus Razors
• Tom’s of Maine
• Garnier
• EOS

There’s no question about it: Sustainability has become one of the most prevalent topics in today’s marketplace. Eco-friendly initiatives and actions are up for discussion on social media, at protests, and on the political debate stage.   According to last year’s Computer Generated Solutions (CGS) U.S. Consumer Sustainability Survey, 68% of consumers rate sustainability as an important factor in their purchases. While toys don’t yet rank as one of the top-five categories that consumers consider most critical for eco-friendly options, the industry is far from immune to this trend. At Toy Fair Dallas, sustainable toys and packaging were prevalent, with the trend expected to pick up steam this year and beyond.   Green toys, recycled materials, and other sustainable initiatives in the toy industry certainly aren’t new, but the second half of last year brought an especially high number of packaging-focused sustainability efforts from some of the biggest names in play. LEGO added to its list of eco-friendly actions by deciding to eliminate plastic shopping bags in its retail stores — with the promise of more announcements on the way this year — while Hasbro, MGA Entertainment, and Mattel all revealed plans to move toward sustainable packaging.    

WHY SUPPORT SUSTAINABILITY?

Despite the many conversations around packaging waste, toys make up less than 1% of the typical household waste stream, according to The Toy Association’s official statement on packaging and sustainability. Al Kaufman, The Toy Association’s senior vice president of technical affairs, says the public perception that toys contribute a higher volume of waste comes from what he calls the Christmas-morning effect.   “Kids open up their toys, all of the gift opening is done, and then the parents look at this huge pile of packaging in front of them and get the impression that toys are overly packaged,” he explains. However, despite toys’ relatively small waste impact, Kaufman and The Toy Association both fully support sustainable packaging efforts.   “I think it’s important for everybody to do their part,” Kaufman says. “I think every industry — large and small, whatever their impacts are — [has] a responsibility to do everything that it can to lessen the impact of their product. … We want to be good corporate citizens and good citizens of the world and do what we can to minimize our impact.”   Many other toy companies share this sentiment, expressing a desire to set a good example for the next generation and to help ensure that kids can grow up on a better, cleaner Earth.   In addition to moral motivations, there are also business-oriented incentives for embracing sustainable packaging. Kathrin Belliveau, senior vice president of government affairs and corporate social responsibility at Hasbro, explains that as more consumers prefer to shop sustainably, regulators and retailers respond by requiring companies to reduce single-use plastic in their packaging. This means that toy companies must look toward sustainability in order to stay competitive.  

GOODBYE, PLASTIC

When it comes to actually producing sustainable packaging, toy companies have options. Hasbro, for example, plans to remove virtually all plastic from its new product packaging, starting this year and finishing by 2022. There will be a few minor exceptions to this, such as Easy-Bake food packaging, some storage containers, tape, glue, and stickers. In place of polybags, elastic bands, shrink-wrap, window sheets, and blister packs, Hasbro will switch to open packaging in some cases and replace the plastic with either paper or alternative materials in others.   “Our in-house packaging team is continually innovating, testing, and validating new materials; exploring new solutions; and developing best practices to improve the sustainability of our products and packaging,” Belliveau says.   MGA Entertainment (MGAE) CEO Isaac Larian announced in November that the popular L.O.L. Surprise! unboxing dolls — which feature multiple surprise layers for kids to unwrap — will also switch to paper and sustainable materials. Consumers can already recycle the L.O.L. Surprise! wrapping, dolls, and accessories through MGAE’s program with TerraCycle, but these new sustainability efforts will make it even easier to recycle the packaging. Larian says this transition will roll out across L.O.L. and other MGAE products this year.   He also says that this packaging change won’t impact the unboxing experience kids enjoy with L.O.L. Surprise! “If the experience changes, it will be because our fans are wanting something different,” he says. Larian even hints at plans for biodegradable toys on the way from MGAE in the second half of the year.   Switzerland-based construction toy company Geomagworld is also making a big move toward sustainability this year, launching a full green line for consumers in June. The packaging in this line includes cardboard boxes made up of more than 70% recycled materials and 80% regenerated PET containers. The products themselves are sustainable, too,  made with 100% recycled plastic. “Some cynics might question our motive for such a move — are we jumping on a bandwagon or finding an ‘on trend’ new toy category?” says Nikki Jeffery, senior marketing consultant at Geomagworld. “Our answer to that would simply be, ‘no,’ and this is something we couldn’t be any clearer on. Geomagworld has always been — and will continue to be — committed to all of our social and environmental responsibilities.”  

THE COST OF GOING GREEN

Moving to sustainable packaging materials may seem like a no-brainer, but there are some difficulties and downsides to making the switch. In the case of open packaging, in-store theft is a major concern. And replacement materials — such as PET and sustainably sourced paper — are more expensive and can require new manufacturing equipment or molds.   According to CGS, about 35% of consumers will pay 25% more for sustainable products. However, it can be harder for small- and medium-sized toy companies to swallow the costs associated with redoing their packaging. The Toy Association knows this and offers all of its members a Smart Packaging Initiative Tool.   The tool separates toys by category, asks retailers questions about the toys’ packaging, and gives the packaging a score from 0-100 (with 100 being the best). Manufacturers can see how their packaging scores compare to the industry median score in that category, get suggestions about how to improve the packaging, and try out several different designs. Kaufman says this can really help companies that don’t have the resources to do this in house. He also thinks the tool will have a positive impact as companies work to improve their scores to reach industry standards.   “That median score is going to go up as all people work to try to improve their scores,” he says. “So it’s a moving goal, and it sort of drives continuous improvement, which I think is also an excellent part of the tool.”

PACKAGING = PLAY

  In addition to replacing plastic packaging with sustainable materials, some companies are opting to make their packaging part of the toy’s play pattern to completely eliminate waste. One example of this is Educational Insights‘ new Design & Drill Bolt Buddy line. The toy itself is a character or vehicle that preschoolers can assemble, but each box folds out to become a color-me playset.   Heather Weeks, director of product development at Educational Insights, says it is important for toymakers to be mindful of details like this. “Incorporating packaging into the play is one more way to spark a child’s imagination, and in the process take a step toward being a responsible steward for our planet,” she says. “As adults, we set the example. Children may not always appear to listen, but in actuality, they are watching very closely.”   Educational Insights’ Director of Marketing Lori Mannion says the only downside to incorporating the packaging into play is making sure that parents and kids notice the extra layer instead of throwing it away out of habit.   “This is a great teachable moment between parents and kids, to take care of the box and reuse it over and over again. …” she says. “We always joke that the kids get so many toys for Christmas and their favorite thing ends up being the cardboard box. We’ve taken that insight to the next level.”  

BEYOND PACKAGING

  There are, of course, other sustainable efforts throughout the toy industry that go beyond packaging. Some companies, such as MGAE, are moving toward biodegradable toys. Others, including Mattel, have introduced recyclable, bio-based plastic toys, such as the new Mega Bloks sets. Educational Insights, meanwhile, aims to disrupt the idea that toys only have a lifespan of a year or two, offering some of the same toys for more than 15 years.   “These toys become heirlooms that are passed down from sibling to sibling and parent to child,” Weeks says. “There is a cycle of play here that we believe is a responsible way of creating toys. No one wants to create product that they feel is quickly destined for a landfill.”   Geomagworld takes things even further in its efforts to help reduce toys’ environmental impact, working with LifeGate PlasticLess to fund a Sea Bin in Marina degli Aregai, Italy. While the material caught in the bin doesn’t directly become Geomagworld products, the device collects around 500 kilograms (about 1,102 pounds) of debris from the water each year.   “We are very aware that what [Geomagworld is] doing is only really going to have a minimal impact on the overall environmental crisis our planet is currently facing,” Jeffery says. “But if we, as a relatively minor player in the market, can make these small but significant changes, imagine the impact if, as an industry, everyone did something! I am sure both our kids and our planet would appreciate it.”

In roughly two months, the world will be celebrating Earth Day with messages of reduce, reuse, recycle. One local company, however, lives that slogan year-round.   Jenkins Subaru , located on Lodgeville Road in Bridgeport, is part of the Subaru TerraCycle partnership program. The initiative was launched last year with a goal of recycling one million pieces of waste through the automaker’s ongoing Subaru Loves the Earth recycling program.   Known for being environmentally conscious and geared toward those who love the great outdoors, Subaru now has nearly 600 participating Subaru retailers participating, including Jenkins. As a drop-off location, Jenkins accepts items such as plastic cups, straws, lids and creamer capsules.  Even the collection bins are recycled. Collections are then used to build park benches, playground equipment and more.   “We look forward to the new green initiatives Subaru will offer in the coming years and we love how this program creates products that improve communities around the nation,” said Marketing Director Aaron Kittle. “Subaru is the leader in green auto factories and we are happy to promote these initiatives.”   Community members are encouraged to start recycling drives in their homes and offices and contribute to the bins at Jenkins Subaru. The products made from the recycled waste is then donated to local communities such as Bridgeport. Collection points also include REI stores and other partners of Subaru that promote conservation and environmental causes.   April is Subaru Loves the Earth Month at Jenkins Subaru, where additional promotions encouraging recycling and reducing waste will be introduced. For additional information about the recycling program, visit Jenkins Subaru.

The toymaker is also releasing a “green” line of Little Tikes rides.

  MGA Entertainment, the maker of the wonderful world of L.O.L. Surprise!, is promising to make the L.O.L. Surprise! collection more sustainable and eco-friendly as it announced that it will be creating biodegradable balls for the toys’ packaging.   The announcement was made in the lead up to the annual Toy Fair in New York, which is kicking off tomorrow, February 22.   The compostable balls will be made with a new patent-pending compound that takes care of the degradation of plastic in landfill conditions, MGA Entertainment said.   The company’s founder and CEO Isaac Larian, in a statement, said: “I have assembled an in-house team that is 100 percent focused on identifying the best innovative and eco-friendly options to use in our toys.”   Additionally, MGA Entertainment has also expanded its existing partnership with innovative waste management company TerraCycle by adding nine new countries to the program.   Under MGA Entertainment’s partnership with TerraCycle, which was announced last year, allows consumers to sign up to a recycling program for free in order to obtain a free shipping label where they can send their L.O.L. Surprise! waste to TerraCycle.   “Beginning 2021, the entire L.O.L Surprise! packaging line will be completely degradable,” Larian said. Ahead of that, the company said starting this summer, all L.O.L Surprise! accessory bags will be paper based, and any packaging made from resin will be degradable and include new compound.   In addition to its green initiative for the L.O.L Surprise!, MGA Entertainment has also announced that it will be rolling out a new product line from another company-owned brand, Little Tikes.   Little Tikes will be unveiling a new line that will be 100% made from post-consumer and post-industrial resin. The Little Tikes "Go Green" product line will be available starting in the fall, particularly on Earth Day.       Little Tikes Go Green will initially have four products to mark its launch before rolling out new additions throughout 2020 and beyond. Little Tikes has created a new logo for the Go Green collection.   “Beginning 2025, MGAE will only manufacture products that will degrade when disposed of properly,” Larian said.   The New York Toy Fair will run from February 22-25, 2020 at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Manhattan.   For more updates on the 2020 New York Toy Fair, stay updated at I4U News. We will report about the highlights and all the hottest new toy releases that will be showcased at the Toy Fair 2020. Follow our dedicated 2020 New York Toy Fair News Hub.