“We're trying to sell toys but we're also trying to genuinely make the world a better place. Hopefully [we'll help] preserve some of the resources that this world has left to offer our kids,” said Hasbro’s Ben Kuchler, Director of Product and Package Sustainability. Kuchler and Jacquie Patterson, Senior Manager of Package Engineering on the sustainability team, presented at Sustainability in Packaging US this week. They talked about the company’s broad sustainability actions over the past decade, as well as their path for the future of hasbro packaging materials.
Hasbro, creator of iconic toys and games such as Nerf, My Little Pony, Transformers, Play-Doh, Monopoly, Baby Alive, and Power Rangers, has also partnered with brands such as Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars. Kuchler said that in 2018, Hasbro became the first toy company to offer a recycling program for US customers. And through a partnership with TerraCycle, Hasbro recycles the “retired” toys back into things like playground equipment, park benches, and flowerpots. The program was expanded to France, Germany, Brazil, and Canada in 2019, the UK in 2020, and “a bunch of other countries are being planned for the years ahead,” said Kuchler.
Marketing for Hasbro's recycling program.
According to Patterson, Hasbro started its sustainability journey over a decade ago. The company eliminated tissue paper in shipping cartons and the polybags that contained instruction sheets. In 2010, paper ties substituted the wire ties that used to hold toys in place in the packaging. In 2013, PET replaced PVC in the packaging, which by 2016 included 40% recycled content. In 2018 Hasbro began switching to bioPET. Said Patterson, “Our journey was working toward making continual improvements to our materials and improving our plastic materials.”
The company has long been working to reduce packaging material and waste in e-commerce packaging and designing packaging specifically for the e-commerce channel. In 2017 Hasbro launched recycle labeling on packaging to help inform North American consumers on how to recycle the product packaging.
Said Kuchler, “Toys have been packaged in PET blisters, or PVC blisters for 50 years now. And so, we created a new filter for ourselves. Wherever we don't physically require plastic in our packaging to deliver it safely to the consumer, whatever that product experience might be, we're trying to eliminate it and phase it out.” To that end, the company is focusing on eliminating poly bags, elastic bands, elastic fasteners, shrink wrap, PET window sheets or blisters. (This initiative focuses on primary packaging, as well as some secondary/tertiary packaging elements.)
Kuchler said Hasbro hopes to provide “a sense of leadership within the packaging industry, or at least within the toy packaging industry, to encourage our partners and our competitors to look and see if they can do better as well.”
CASE STUDIES
Hasbro phased out some plastic packaging in its NERF gun package.
The minimalist packaging is more sustainable yet attractive.
NERF Alpha Strike: With this product Patterson said they were wanting to eliminate the plastic fasteners. A sleeve package contains the NERF gun and eliminates the need for any fasteners. This is done by ‘trapping’ the blaster in certain locations to be able to hold it into the packing.
My Little Pony: This packaging, said Patterson, tends to be big blister cards with an outer blister and a support blister behind. 
New packaging style removes the need for further elements to hold the toys in place.
Baby Alive: This line has a lot of large baby dolls that come with a variety of accessories. Instead of support blisters, the middle of the package contains a new plastic-free foil package, with strategic dye cuts to be able to showcase some accessories inside. Paper ties also showcase some of the pieces. Patterson said the added challenge for Baby Alive and some other brands in Hasbro is that some regions around the world require packages for products like this to be more enclosed for their open-air markets, as well as needing to deliver an enclosed package for e-commerce because of the item being at a lower age grade. (For Amazon products that are age graded at three and under, the package must be enclosed.) Hasbro created an enclosed version that solves for both of regional and e-commerce issues by using the same open package, but with a sleeve over it that at retail the consumer can lift and still see what the product is, but the sleeve portrays an image of the product, enabling the consumer to see what is inside. 
New packaging style removes the need for further elements to hold the toys in place.
New packaging style removes the need for further elements to hold the toys in place.
NEW PRODUCTS
Packaging is plastic free and also uses FSC-certified paper and supports responsible forestry.Hasbro
Monopoly Go Green launched at Walmart in December 2020 and is the first fully sustainable board game. The package, game board, game guide, money cards, and all paper content is made from 100% recycled paper. The greenhouses and the dice are made of FSC-certified wood from well-managed forests, and the tokens - which are normally in die-cast zinc material - are made with plant-based plastic derived from sugar cane. And finally, the gameplay is designed to educate players to be eco-conscious by rewarding them and encouraging them to ‘green up or clean up’ their properties. 
The first fully sustainable board game.Hasbro
Kuchler expressed that their experience throughout this process has already provided Hasbro packaging benefits. “The learnings from this exercise are paving the way, not only for Monopoly, but the way that we package all of our games in the future. This is a huge milestone for us and it's honestly just a tiny baby step in the beginning of our product sustainability journey.”
Read: Sustainability Still Key to Packaging Post-COVID
Read: Hasbro to use bio-PET in packaging
