16.06.2010 "Our packing is 100% recyclable !" says Orchard Toys MD
As part of a review of waste disposal, Caroline Spelman the new Environment Secretary, plans to crackdown on landfill waste.
Criticising the toy industry, she said: “My teenage children are constantly bringing items home in thick packaging, polystyrene and cardboard, and it’s really all about making the product attractive to buy rather than packaging it safely.
"If you go into an average toy shop and look how children’s toys are packaged, that’s very much about marketing – attractive boxes, large boxes, filled with usually fairly large quantities of packing materials before you get to the goodies at the heart of it.
"I think what we would really like to see in our review is an extension of the Courtauld Commitment which looks at retail packaging," said Ms Spelman. Under the 2005 Courtauld Commitment, food retailers and manufacturers agreed to "design out" packaging growth by 2008. Further cuts are to be made by 2012 under the second stage of the agreement, but it does not cover many sectors of general retailing, such as toys.
On hearing this news, Simon Newbery, MD at Orchard Toys said, “As far as packaging is concerned we are squeaky clean as it is designed to be an integral part of the product and to remain with it throughout the product’s lifetime.
“All of the board used for packaging and games and jigsaw puzzles is 100% recycled, all of which can go straight into the compost bin or landfill when the game or jigsaw comes to the end of its useful life.”
