Sonia Sanchez

Impact and sustainability expert, Sonia Sánchez and author of the eyeopening whitepaper Changing the World Toy by Toy is here to tell us, that while businesses are beginning to take notice of the all important sustainability issue, the elephant is still sat right in the room

By Sonia Sanchez

Today, sustainability is a buzzword in the toy industry. Increasingly, brands commit funds and their best minds to address their environmental impact. They are turning to recycled plastic and cardboard, minimising packaging, reducing GHG emissions and waste, and the first generation of toys to be made from bio-based plastics is now on the shelf.

However, there remains an elephant in the room. And it’s a massive one. It’s called volume.

Current business models rely heavily on volume. Toy companies need to sell large quantities to reduce production costs and make a decent profit from tight margins. To sell large numbers, firms are doomed to a frantic launch of novelties and promote fast-moving trends. As a result, most Western children own a ludicrous amount of toys (though they essentially stick to just a few of them).

This pursuit of volume undermines the efforts to reduce packaging, adopt sustainable materials, and address the carbon footprint. The more units produced, the more GHGs released, limited natural resources consumed and waste generated.

We need new business models that decouple profitability from the number of toys sold. Circular business models integrating resale, rental and take-back schemes can simultaneously address natural resources depletion, carbon footprint and waste.

The challenge is gigantic. Circularity implies a radical switch in the consumer's mindset and developing an utterly new infrastructure: sales platforms, the logistics enabling the collection, repairing, distribution and recycling. However, the status quo is on the verge of collapse and is no longer a realistic option for companies aspiring to thrive.

On the one hand, the last IPCC report acknowledges that we are immersed in a climate crisis and instils a sense of urgency that will translate into more restrictive regulation and taxes reflecting the environmental impact of products. Circular business models that reduce the input of virgin raw materials and reduce the need for manufacturing new products can protect companies from future cost escalations due to regulation, taxes and scarcity.

On the other hand, if toy prices had to reflect higher costs, consumers might move towards buying fewer toys providing more added value (already a rising trend), renting or purchasing pre-owned toys, models growing fast among the younger generations (promptly parents).

We can go on ignoring the elephant in the room. But the sooner we engage in an open conversation about volume, the sooner we'll find sustainable options to obsolete business models. Few are better equipped for this challenge than the toy industry; the industry of play, dreams, creativity, imagination, innovation, learning and growing. The sky is the limit.

Sonia Sanchez is an impact and sustainability consultant who specialises in the toy industry via her website, sonia-sanchez.com. She is the author of the eye-opening whitepaper Changing the World Toy by Toy which is available to download now.