Hasbro Invites the Return of ‘Well-Loved’ Toys & Games for Recycling

by | Apr 16, 2018

This article is included in these additional categories:

Hasbro, Inc., is the latest company to announce a product recycling program; through a partnership with TerraCycle, the toy and game recycling initiative lets consumers collect and send their used Hasbro products to TerraCycle, who will recycle them into materials that can be used in the construction of playgrounds, park benches, and more.

TerraCycle says the Hasbro Toy Recycling pilot program is the first brand-sponsored national recycling program in the industry.

The free recycling program invites users to print out a free shipping label to use on boxes of “well-loved” toys and games, which they can then send to TerraCycle for repurposing.

The program is another effort from Hasbro’s Sustainability Center of Excellence, which helps the company reduce its carbon footprint and improve its environmental performance. Hasbro says it focuses its environmental efforts in three key areas: reducing the environmental impacts of products and packaging, partnering with vendors to source and distribute Hasbro products in an environmentally conscious way, and minimizing the environmental footprint of operations.

For example, earlier this year, Hasbro announced that it will begin using plant-based bio-polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for blister packs and plastic windows in its product packaging starting in 2019. Hasbro also says it uses 100% renewable energy and is carbon neutral across its US operations. Like many companies in the retail space, Hasbro is pursuing a set of “ambitious” environmental goals for 2025, including:

  • Reduce waste to landfill by 50%;
  • Reduce water consumption by 15%;
  • Reduce energy consumption by 20%;
  • Reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20%.

Hasbro ranked No. 3 on Newsweek’s 2017 Green Rankings, which assesses the 500 largest publicly-traded companies in the US on overall environmental and sustainability performance.

Companies in the consumer goods and retail space have announced a variety of recycling and take-back initiatives in recent months. Columbia Sportswear and Target each offered take-back programs last month to reduce textile waste. Garnier, the second largest brand of the L’Oreal Group, is working with TerraCycle and DoSomething.org on a campaign that invites college campuses to collect and send “beauty empties” to TerraCycle for repurposing.

And Colgate-Palmolive is placing the How2Recyle label on products like Tom’s of Maine, Softsoap, Palmolive, Ajax, Colgate, Speed Stick and more, with an aim of reducing confusion about recycling through clear standardized consumer labels.

In related news, Sierra Nevada craft brewing company announced a new effort in its drive toward zero manufacturing waste goal. The RightCycle program from Kimberly-Clark Professional helps Sierra Nevada recover the disposable gloves worn by plant workers and give them a second life as park benches, storage containers and the like.

Additional articles you will be interested in.

Stay Informed

Get E+E Leader Articles delivered via Newsletter right to your inbox!

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Share This