Plastic Shit: To want toy companies to become accountable and responsible for the waste they produce?

[Lowhum]

DC had a birthday recently. She was very fortunate to have lots of lovely and thoughtful presents from her friends.

However, the amount off plastic waste left after opening her presents was appalling. As a family we try so hard to buy toys that are more ‘sustainable’ but it seems that it is just a new way to target shoppers rather than to reduce the overall amount of plastic packaging on all toys.

I’ve attached a picture to show how bonkers packaging is. These tubes were used to display single sheets of stickers inside a plastic box. The brand was Crayola. Shouldn’t a large company like this be responsible for ensuring that waste isn’t passed to the consumer to dispose of and not produce it in the first place?

We can’t get rid of plastic, so why are we producing it to just make sheets of stickers look more appealing?

It's daft, isn't it?
I'd be tempted to send that photo to Crayola and asking them if they're content with overzealous , single use plastic waste.

I know. It wasn’t just Crayola. It was all the brands. It just doesn’t seem to be getting any better.

Plastic within plastic!

I feel like sitting myself outside Smyths with a (cardboard) placard!

My worst offenders...
LOL dolls. Purposefully excessive wrapping
Barbie. Massive packaging just for an outfit for example.
Any company you uses screws to secure a toy
Magazines.

Shout out for Lego starting to move to paper bags and exploring plant based plastics.

it has started creeping up again but about 20 (maybe more, maybe more like 30) years ago Germany introduced the rule that shops have to take back the packaging of products they sell. They have recycling bins at the front after the tills where you can put it. We used to see people taking the inner bag out of cereal and putting the box in the paper bin, and the cellophane of lots of things and so on.

At the time things like toothpaste which had been sold in a box then wrapped in cellophane suddenly became available as tube only (with a seal under the top) etc.

Lots of people spent a lot of time writing to manufactures and some things did change.

It frustrates me that I feel guilty for not being able to recycle hard plastic like this when I didn’t buy it and it wasn’t even necessary to pack the sticker sheets adequately.

Not just toy companies. Everyone. M&S is selling Easter crackers. I mean, really?

Selling plastic tat has to stop (and all the hidden plastics, too, do we still need cellophane windows on envelopes, for example?)

YANBU at all. It’s utter bullshit.

Online clothes deliveries, with everything individually wrapped on a hanger drives me bonkers.

It would stop if there was double VAT for it, for example.

There is a regulation on packaging waste - all companies have to calculate how much packaging is on their products that ends up in landfill either via distributors or end users they are then taxed in accordance with what waste is produced from the manufacture of their products.

thebigplasticcount.com

@yellowsuninthesky

Not just toy companies. Everyone. M&S is selling Easter crackers. I mean, really?

Selling plastic tat has to stop (and all the hidden plastics, too, do we still need cellophane windows on envelopes, for example?)

Cellophane windows piss me off! Envelopes, food packaging, toys etc. I diligently peel them off so I can recycle the cardboard but it’s so pointless.

I agree that all the packaging is unnecessary, microplastics seem to be making headlines more and more often so I hope now there are direct health implications there’ll be a real incentive to avoid future litigation.

As an aside it occurred to me that games manufacturers should be compelled to accept their own pieces back to reuse/recycle. I was sorting through DD’s outgrown toys and there were a couple of games that weren’t suitable for giving away due to bits that had gone walkies. I’d happily send them back to the manufacturer for them to resell as part of a new game.

The polluter pays principle has now been introduced as part of the Environment Act. Not sure how long it will take for companies to change though.

Totally agree OP, I really do. This junk has no purpose beyond making stuff look good. And it's not even recyclable (and even if it were, sod it, recycling still uses energy and resources and is energy intensive, it's not "green" or perfect).

So much of it is needless plastic crap. And we noticed that when we were shopping for our first - so much stuff is plastic, overpriced crap you don't need. We went into a baby shop for a look about and so much of it is overpriced and needless (moby bath thermometers? good idea if you've got neuropathy but you can buy way cheaper and better lasting kit like that form specialist stores which sell to people with disabilities).

So much stuff is rubbish. Cheaply made, gaudy, crap, and designed to break within a couple of years at a push.

Oh, and microplastics have been found in blood and lungs of live people (not just in post mortems). No way is that junk not crossing the blood-brain barrier.