Mattel wants you to send back your toys when you're done with them

[Scrivener7]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/10/business/mattel-toys-sustainability/index.html?utm_source=optzlynewmarketribbon

- snip -

The 76-year-old toy company is launching a pilot program called "Mattel PlayBack" that is designed to recover and reuse materials in old toys for future Mattel products.
The new effort is the company's latest step toward a sustainability-focused future. Mattel previously committed to using 100% recycled, recyclable or bio-based plastic materials across all of its products and packaging by 2030.

Consumers can participate in the program by visiting Mattel's website, printing a free shipping label and packing and mailing their toys back to the company. The toys will then be sorted and separated by material type and processed and recycled, according to the company. Materials that cannot be repurposed as recycled content in new toys will either be downcycled into other plastic products or converted from waste to energy.

-snip -

The toy company is kicking off this program with three brands — Barbie, Matchbox and MEGA toys — and plans to add other brands in the future.

NICE!

[Deminpenn]

1. Interesting

Wonder how this will affect the collectibles toy market?

[Scrivener7]

2. Good question. My understanding is that platforms like Ebay have brought the

prices down on most collectibles. Maybe this will jack up the toy collectible prices.

[Hugin]

8. I'm not completely cynical on this action...

Last edited Mon May 10, 2021, 09:44 AM - Edit history (1)

Mattel is probably trying what it can do to appeal to modern parents who may insist that a green end-of-life plan exist for anything they buy their little darlings.

That's not to be mocked and instead shows at least some responsibility on the part of a corporate entity.

However, unless the offer includes packaging it may be seen as a boost to the value of these items as collectibles.

[Deminpenn]

9. Not trying to be cynical

There are a lot of people holding onto their Barbie (and friends) dolls, clothes and accessories. Until recently I was one, but unless you have a mint-in-box or original, year 1 Barbie/Ken, the dolls aren't worth a lot. If I still had my dolls, I'd send them in to be recycled.

It's the same with Matchbox cars and trucks.

Scarcity is what drives up collectible prices. If lots of people decide to turn in their toys, that would likely increase the value of the toys that aren't recycled.

[Hugin]

12. Oh, yeah...

I wasn't trying to imply you were being cynical in the least. I'm saying I'm cynical.

You pose a very good question and I was saying raising the value of the non-recycled toys held in collections could be a side effect of the move, but, I'm hoping the company doesn't see that as the only reason for the effort.

I have some relatives who still have way too many toys (they call them collections) and are reluctant to throw them away. However, they may be more willing to let them go, if they were destined to be recycled through a program such as this.

[Deminpenn]

22. Toys, I guess, just hold good memories

for most of us which is probably why we're reluctant to part with them.

[forgotmylogin]

11. I can see this being a reasonable and viable option.

Many toys that are not collectible and actually played with (and often eventually destroyed) by children end up in pieces in boxes in an attic or thrown away. If Mattel can recover some of these and recycle the bits that's great.

[Hugin]

13. It seems to be a pilot at this point...

Trying to gauge the interest among their customers in having something like this program available.

[Lettuce Be]

20. It would certainly drive up prices on collectibles as there would be fewer.

Which IMO is a great idea -- idiots with nothing better to do can buy up dolls and keep them in their closets so their children can sell for pennies at a garage sale after you pass. What could be better? It's a good idea, don't get me wrong, but I always laugh at people that buy something just to store it away in the hopes it'll rise in value in 50 years.

[NJCher]

3. Do they make those plastic

Playhouses and the like?

If that’s what this will include I will give 3 cheers.

I see these big mounds of plastic toys on the street after the child has outgrown them. I wince at the thought of all that plastic being burned.

[Diamond_Dog]

4. You and me both, Cher.

My best friend’s granddaughter alone has enough large plastic toys to make a big dent in a landfill.

[Marthe48]

16. We got a used doll house for my grand daughter

paid .75 cents and she loved it. Heck, I love it I think she still plays with toys, although she is growing up fast. Most of the toys we got the grand kids we picked up at yard sales. I am hoping I can pass them along to other kids who will enjoy have them.

[5X]

5. They will have to pry Barbie from my cold dead hands. n/t

[roamer65]

31. Put down the Barbie and slowly back away!

[Raine]

37. That's the way I feel too! nt

[samplegirl]

6. I remember them reclaiming Barbie dolls in the

Sixties. Bring your old Barbie back to S.S. Kees age and get a new one for 2.30

[JI7]

15. Do you know what they did with the old ones ?

[Hugin]

7. Only yesterday I had to clean up after a wind storm had left piles of Barbies in the yard...

Some of them had gotten caught in the trees and shrubs, too.

The Matchbox cars are only a problem if they get in the gutters or on the walkways.

[Progressive Jones]

10. LOL !!! nt

[Scrivener7]

17. You joke, but when you figure that most little girls own at least one or two Barbies in

their lifetime, not to mention clothing and lots of stuff for them, it's a lot going into the landfills.

[Hugin]

18. One of my sweeties has a very special Barbie she takes out to gaze upon now and then...

Because, they share their birthday.

So, I get the sentimental angle.

Legos! As anti-personnel devices those sharp little things really need a recycling program!

[Klaralven]

46. Lego Replay

https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/replay

Give your LEGO® bricks a new home

Want to pass your much-loved LEGO bricks to kids who will love them too? LEGO is working with Give Back Box to help you share the power of play with children who need it most.

[Deminpenn]

23. Compare today's Barbie with the ones back in the 1960s

and the drop off in quality is amazing.

[Raine]

40. True IF they went to a landfill but I think most keep

their Barbie's or pass them onto to their daughters. I know I still have all of mine.

[getagrip_already]

14. If we could link barbies to some lib cause......

the gqp would burn every one they could buy in a huge bonfire, just to hurt matel. Then the prices would rise on what was left.

{sarcasm}

[marybourg]

19. You mean like the printer cartridge recycling plan?

And the battery recycling plan? After a splashy set of announcements, I haven’t received any free return envelopes for those products in several years now.

[Brother Buzz]

21. Cool, but I'm not done with my Mousegetar...

in the original box. Thanks Mom for saving it, and a POX on eBay for driving the prices down.

[ZonkerHarris]

24. Mattel wants free raw materials for its production.

[Scrivener7]

25. You'd rather it went into land fills?

[ZonkerHarris]

26. Most people don't throw out Barbies. Also there are recycling programs everywhere. Why ship it?

More packing material and boxes?
Just more waste this way.

[Scrivener7]

30. What do you think they do with them? Of course most people throw out Barbies.

Are you acquainted with many grown women who keep their Barbies around since childhood? And all the houses and cars and plastic clothing and accessories that go with them?

And no, it's not more waste. It's a reduction of waste.

You are advocating for land-filling tons upon tons of plastic rather than recycling it.

That's just weird.

[ZonkerHarris]

33. Since I've worked in the toy and comic business yes, I've met many many adult women with all their

Barbies, her accessories and clothing.
They collect and often pass them onto their daughters.
There is a market for parts and everything
Want to sell an old Barbie head with no body? Or a body with no head?
There's a buyer for that.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=vintage+barbie&_sacat=0

Now to the other matter where you failed today.
Not once did I advocate for putting anything in a landfill.
I talked about recycling.

In the future when you're in a debate where you clearly are uniformed about the pertaining details, like what Barbie collectors do, don't cover for your inadequacies by falsely putting words into others mouths.

Glad to help you learn something today.
You're welcome.

[Scrivener7]

34. Wow. Your training has certainly paid off! You are ready for the pompous olympics!

In your world, where all the adult women still have all their Barbie dolls from childhood and pass them all on to their daughters, you certainly win in all your arguments!

In this world, most women throw out their old Barbies. And they end up in a land fill. The reason some sell on ebay for good prices is that they are decades old and rare -- because most women threw out their Barbies.

Glad for the opportunity to send you this missive from the real world today.

You're welcome.

[ZonkerHarris]

35. Don't fall off your high horse, you'll break your neck

[LanternWaste]

38. Ten bucks says you fail to see the irony in your having implied sanctimony in someone else

[Raine]

42. Those who don't want them any longer often donate them

to Goodwill, Salvation Army and places like that, I've seen them there.

[Scrivener7]

43. And many throw them out. This is an admirable effort to reduce the ones that go into

landfills.

[Raine]

47. Certainly it's admirable, we're being buried and drowning in plastic

so those who don't want their old toys have that option. I'd rather keep mine or give them to a kid whose parents can't afford to buy expensive Mattel products. I still think more people do that.

[BGBD]

28. Can't you just recycle them yourself?

Why should I pay a company for a product and them supply them materials to make more products that I have to pay for? Where's the reason to send these back instead of recycling them yourself. Or, better yet, donating them so parents who can't afford new toys can have them? What is going to incentivize people to go through the trouble of sending these off? Are they going to offer credit to the people toward their next purchases?

I'd rather Mattel and other toy makers commit to stopping their use of these materials and find alternatives. This program is destined to fail.

[Scrivener7]

32. Wow. These responses are just weird. Currently, as far as I am aware, there is no

venue where you can recycle Barbies or Barbie accessories.

And as far as donating them, have you ever seen a Barbie after a little girl is finished with it?

And what incentivizes you to recycle plastic bottles? If you are not paid to do it, do you just say "fuck it" and throw the bottle in with the rest of the garbage? And maybe they will offer some rebate. It's not mentioned in the article.

I think it's great that Mattel is doing this. Imagine if every company did it.

[BGBD]

44. Last I checked

You don't have to mail plastic bottles off.

[Scrivener7]

45. And besides, we can always use more landfill. Plastics are the future.

[LanternWaste]

41. All your questions and more can be found on their website

A few clicks here, and few mouse movements there, and there you are; Bob's your uncle. Easy-peasy, George and Wheezie.

[dweller]

27. I mean, are you ever really

done with your favorite toy ?

My daughter takes her barbies plus some she’s collected, strips them naked, teases their hair straight up, and poses their arms in the air
Then arranges them in a large glass vase like roses ...
it works ... 😆

✌🏻

[PCIntern]

29. Here:

[Raine]

36. Send my Barbies back ...HELL NO!!! 😱

Good of them to want to recycle but I could NEVER part with my Barbie's, Ken's, Midge's etc!

[miyazaki]

39. Keeping my handheld electronic soccer

-Ya the football was the most popular, but I was the only kid in my neighborhood with the soccer. Still works fine.