Toy company Mattel to offer recycling for old toys
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Lots of you enjoy playing with toys, but what do you do when you're no longer interested in your old ones?
Toy company Mattel has launched a special programme which aims to give old toys a new lease of life. It's designed to recover and reuse materials from old Mattel toys and the parts will then be used in its future products.
It's all part of the company's goal to achieve 100% recycled, recyclable or bio-based plastic materials, which are fully or partially made from renewable resources - across all its products and packaging by 2030.
To take part in the programme, customers simply have to pack and mail their old Mattel toys back to the company. The toys will then be collected, sorted and separated by material type before being processed and recycled where possible.
"The Mattel PlayBack programme helps ensure that materials stay in play, and out of landfills, with the aim to repurpose these materials as recycled content in new toys," said Pamela Gill-Alabaster who is the Global Head of Sustainability at the company.
"It is one important step we're taking to address the growing global waste challenge."
And, Mattel isn't the only company taking steps to help better protect the environment.
Too many plastic toys in kids meals?
Popular fast food chain McDonald's announced it will be providing a way to allow customers to recycle their old plastic toys back in 2019.
Most items made from plastic aren't biodegradable. It means that they don't break down easily, and instead remain in the environment for many years.
Each year, around 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced worldwide and 40% of that is single-use - meaning plastic that is only use once before it's binned.
The company said it would provide special recycling bins where people can drop off their unwanted toys. It also said that from the start of this year, it would be swapping out its plastic prizes for soft toys, sustainable paper-based toys and books.
Burger King has also decided to crack down on plastic waste in recent years.
In September 2019, the fast food chain said it would stop giving away plastic toys with children's meals altogether and said the move would save around 320 tonnes of plastic a year.
Matchbox announced it'd be introducing a new line of cars made from recycled materials
Earlier this year, British toymaker Matchbox, which is also owned by Mattel, said it'll be introducing a new line of toy cars made from recycled products.
The first vehicle is set to be a miniature version of the Tesla Roadster and it'll be the first made almost entirely (99%) from recycled materials.
So, would you recycle your old toys? Let us know in the comments!
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