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Bad news for PVC packaging continues to mount as Hasbro plans
to eliminate PVC from core product packaging beginning in
2013.
The US-based firm has already begun to phase out PVC from
some packaging.
“At a time when consumers have an abundance of choices,
we hope our track record of innovation and corporate citizenship
- including our focus on sustainable packaging and product
safety - will give shoppers one more reason to choose our
products during the holiday season and throughout the year,”
stated Hasbro President and CEO Brian Goldner in a news release.
PVC is widely used in thermoformed
clam-shell and blister packaging. Its chief competitors in
such applications are PET and polystyrene.
Hasbro,
however, has not indicated any plan to eliminate PVC from
its actual toys and games, according to a report from GreenBiz.com.
Hasbro’s PVC packaging plan
is one of the goals in its new corporate responsibility report.
Other goals include more use of recycled paper content, cutting
greenhouse gas emissions, recycling more non-hazardous waste,
curbing water consumption and replacing wire ties with paper
rattan or bamboo.
An industry group criticised Hasbro’s plan, saying the company
“did not do its homework.”
“Too many companies fall into the trap of thinking that
sustainability is a matter of choosing a certain material
or adding a certain feature to their operations,” said Allen
Blakey, spokesman for Vinyl Institute.
“It’s not - sustainability is constantly working to improve
operations and products to reduce impacts. PVC can be as sustainable
as other materials. Study after study has shown its life-cycle
impacts are equal to or even less than competing materials.”
Blakey said almost 46% of
US consumers have access to recycling PVC non-bottle rigid
packaging, about 8-9% percentage points less than access to
PET/HDPE non-bottle rigid recycling and ahead of several other
plastic types.
Most of Hasbro’s toys are manufactured in 46 factories in
China, according to its website. It owns and operates only
two production plants - in Massachusetts, US and Waterford,
Ireland. These operations mainly make board games and puzzles.
In total, Hasbro relies on 115 third party manufacturers around
the world. The firm also licenses its brand name to producers
of apparel, footwear, home goods, health and beauty products,
food and publishing.
Most dolls and many other toys are made of PVC. Hasbro is
not known as a major doll maker, but among its biggest sellers
are G.I. Joe action figures.
Greenpeace said it could
not comment specifically about Hasbro’s announcement because
it has not seen the firm’s implementation plan. But it encourages
all companies using hazardous chemicals in their supply chain
and products to eliminate them.
The environmental organisation did, however, give a thumbs
up to Hasbro’s plan to avoid doing business with Asia Pulp
and Paper, a company Greenpeace alleges is destroying Indonesian
rain forest.
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