IconCase Study


Toy packaging: the good, the bad and the ugly

It is estimated that around 125,000 tonnes of plastic packaging will be thrown away over Christmas in the UK alone - that's the equivalent weight of more than 50,000 polar bears! So, as the country gears up for another seasonal shopping frenzy, it's time to look at what counts as reasonable packaging - and what doesn't.

The good


Wheely Bug Cow by Hippychick

Toys by Hippychick have a certain cachet style-asset conscious toddlers - and their parents. But is their solid reputation for quality, practicality and durability matched by a sensible approach to packaging? The answer is a big yes. It had a small cardboard label attached to it with all the necessary safety and manufacturing information. And it had a small tube of bubble wrap around the metal handle-bar - presumably to protect it and other goods in transit. Our testers, armed with scissors, took just over 30 seconds top open it. We're guessing a one-year old would take slightly longer.

Bananagrams

Another example of the packaging-lite approach to entertaining the kids. The banana-shaped cloth pouch holds all the letter tiles. There's also a plastic bag for the tiles, but it's re-sealable and therefore re-usable. All the safety and product information is on a small tag, attached with a plastic tie. There's no dead space inside the bag, no expensive air to be protected and packaged - the whole thing is simplicity itself. And it took us less than ten seconds to get the goodies out.

Transformer Optimus Prime Voice Changer Helmet

Thanks to the movie, the Transformers are back with us once more. But, unusually for a movie tie-in, this came with little more than the absolute necessary packaging. The open-fronted cardboard box, although laminated, had no clear plastic frontage, seen on so many similar toys. Batteries were fully installed - so no extra packaging to keep them safe. The helmet was fixed in place with plastic wires - 97cm of them, and 5 small plastic fixings. The toy itself takes up more than two thirds of the entire packaging volume, so manufacturers are only transporting a relatively small amount of air. It took the testing team nearly one and a half minutes to get into the box, before they were able to try on the helmet.

Disney Princess Enchanted Tales Mega Blocks

Our testers had always associated Disney with the aesthetics of excess, so they were enchanted with this packaging-free toy. It seems that the way to reduce packaging is to include all the legal and relevant information on a small cardboard tag - in this case measuring 12.5 x 6.5 cm. To keep small parts from wandering - as is required by European law - the two princess characters were held in place with a small amount of clear plastic wrapping, and 30 cm of plastic wire. Our testers, anxious to get the plastic bricks out of the back took only a few seconds to break down the Disney defences.

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The bad


Lego Creator 8 in 1

Lego is a permanent favourite. But its packaging isn't. Obviously, with all those small parts, it has to be kept safe and away from curious fingers. But is a box that is half full of air really necessary? The box holds 4.5 litres. The product comes to 2.2 litres, inside plastic bags that are not resealable. Maybe Lego should consider more permanent storage boxes? At least most of the packaging was made of cardboard.


Vtech KidZoom Digital Camera

Cardboard and moulded plastic combine to make an almost impenetrable case for this kid's camera. Our testers took a large pair of scissors and nearly two minutes to get into it. Altogether the product takes up only 40 per cent of the packaging space. The rest is.who knows? Certainly it doesn't need to be this big to fulfil any packaging regulations. A clever re-design could reduce the amount of packaging and still make the camera stand out from the crowd. Information on whether any of the packaging is recyclable or not would also be useful.

Disney Princess Quartz Accurate Time Teacher

This natty gift includes a pink watch and cardboard cut-out clock face to help kids learn to tell the time. The problem is the watch, which measures 3.5 cm x 22.5 cm, is in a package that measures 14cm x 31cm. That's a lot of pink cardboard and non-recyclable plastic for one small watch. If the watch had been folded, the packaging could have gone down to around 14.5cm x 9cm. That's less than half - and quite a saving when you consider the number of little girls who will be learning to tell the time with the Disney princesses this year.

Bendominos

We had high hopes for this set of curved dominoes. They came in a sturdy tin that could be re-used as storage, and at first glance there was no plastic or cardboard in sight. But then it arrived - a tin shrink wrapped in plastic. What's more the bendominos inside, beautiful to look at, were also shrink wrapped in more plastic, and placed in a moulded container, made of. wait for it, more plastic. In fact the dominoes took up only 27 per cent of the space - the rest was plastic coated air. Obviously transporting a toy like this requires some means to keep the dominoes intact. But may we suggest a slightly smaller tin in future?

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The ugly


Transformers Swindle Deception Car

Moulded plastic, lots of laminated cardboard and a great deal of fresh air. This toy car is suspended in a plastic bubble of packaging. It looks very dramatic, and all the safety information is printed on the back. But the car takes up only 20 percent of the packing volume. That's an awful lot of air to be freighted round the world, and an awful lot of hard-to-recycle packaging going straight to landfill.

Rubiks Revo

This Rubik's cube with extra bells whistles and flashing lights looks like great fun. But it took our tester, armed with a hefty pair of scissors, nearly two minutes to break through the laminated cardboard and layers of plastic in which it was suspended. And while the glamorous packaging may have added to the appeal of the toy, it certainly added to the carbon used in producing and transporting it - not to mention the local landfill come Boxing Day. When we measured it we found that the cube took up only 13 per cent of the packaging volume. The rest was simply marketing.

What's the good, the bad and the ugly in your shopping trolley this year? Log onto our Blog and share your stories.

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