What to do with all of those Recalled Toys
As millions of toys with dangerous components and materials are recalled, manufacturers and retailers alike are asking, “What should be done with all of the recalled toys?” Many of toys will likely end up in dumpsters, raising concerns about such large quantities of plastic and lead in the nation’s landfills. As worries about ever-bulging landfills and groundwater contamination grow, the headache of getting rid of the toys may just be the start of problems to come.
As we learn more about how far-reaching the health threats of these products can be, it’s becomes more clear how important it is for these products to never make it to the shelves of retail stores like Wal-Mart in the first place. It’s time for Wal-Mart to demand more of its suppliers, and to stop jeopardizing the health of people and the environment.
Additional Links:
Wal-Mart Watch fact sheet: Is Wal-Mart Really a Green Company?
Wal-Mart Watch fact sheet: Wal-Mart and Hazardous Waste
From “Toy Industry Challenged by Disposal Plan” [Associated Press via ABC News]
Now that toy companies have issued recalls for millions of Chinese-made toys that are either tainted with lead or otherwise hazardous to children, they are scrambling to figure out what to do with them.
Mattel Inc., which on Tuesday recalled about 19 million toys worldwide, said it was working on a “responsible approach” but could not provide details.
Amid the lack of clarity, many parents are confused about how to dispose of the toys. That may mean many of them will end up in the trash and eventually in landfills, where they could possibly leach toxins into the groundwater.
All parents know at this point is that they need to get them out of their kids’ toy chests.
In Nashville, Tenn., Courtney Wilson discovered she had some recalled Polly Pocket dolls with magnets from Mattel, and she’s decided to throw them out. Meanwhile, another parent Jennifer Mulligan of Franklin, Tenn., is making a different choice: she plans to take the recalled dolls back to the store.
Mulligan said that her 6-year-old daughter “probably has about every Polly Pockets ever made.”
She added: “If we did have an affected toy, I’d see it as lesson for her. ... If there was something wrong with the toy, it’s up to the store to replace it with another toy.”
The Mattel recall is the latest in a slew of recalls involving more than 10 million toys since June in the U.S. alone.
The most alarming has been the recall of toys covered with lead-based paint. Children who ingest lead-laced paint can suffer brain damage, and improper disposal of lead-based paint can damage the environment.
Mattel’s recalls cover several hundred thousand “Sarge” vehicles and almost a million toys from its Fisher-Price line, including the Sesame Street and Nickelodeon characters.
Its recalls follow the recall of 1.5 million items from RC2 Corp.’s Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway toy line, announced in June.
Many retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are offering the option of returning the recalled toys to stores where they are sent back to the makers, but they prefer shoppers sending them back to manufacturers in packaging that the maker provides in exchange for a refund.
“Certainly, there is a significant expense to manage a recall,” said Eric Johnson, professor of Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. “This is a big headache.”
Lead-painted toys fall under the category of products that would need to be destroyed or properly disposed of, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission in Washington, D.C.
But plenty of other toys like the millions of toys including Batman and Polly Pockets recalled this week by Mattel because of hazardous magnets don’t necessarily have to be destroyed.
Still, they could present future legal risks if they pop up in a Salvation Army store or other resale site. The magnetic toys were recalled because their small, powerful magnets could harm children if they’re swallowed.
Scott Wolfson, a spokesman at the CPSC, said that a recalled product like a lead-laced toy cannot be exported for resale.
Disposal sometimes is determined as part of a company’s recall negotiations with the agency, but ultimately must be in accordance with state and federal environmental laws, he said.
Wolfson said he could not discuss whether the agency entered into any specific arrangements with Mattel on how it should handle its inventory of recalled products.
For toys that don’t pose an environmental hazard, such as the recalled magnetic toys, a manufacturer has more leeway. A company may even seek to ship the items for sale abroad.
“Some companies do request to re-export their products to another country,” Wolfson said.
In such cases, the manufacturers are required to tell the CPSC, which alerts the country where the product is slated to go and gives them the opportunity to deny entry.
Some consumer watchdogs believe that many parents may find returning a toy and waiting for a voucher a cumbersome process and opt instead to simply throw out the dangerous toys.
Perry Gottesfeld, executive director of Occupational Knowledge International, a San Francisco-based nonprofit group that tracks environmental health issues, worried that “ultimately, this problem is also creating a landfill problem because most of these products are not likely to be captured by manufacturers,” Gottesfeld said.
Manufacturers appear to be challenged by how they’re going to handle such a massive recall.
Asked what the company plans to do with the recalled toys, Jules Andres, a Mattel spokeswoman, said it was working on a “responsible approach,” but could not provide further details.
Wayne Charness, a spokesman at Hasbro, which recalled faulty Easy Bake ovens this year from China, made it clear that he wants customers to bring the defective products back so they can crush them.
He declined to comment on how many have been returned so far.
Nancy Davies, a spokeswoman for RC2, said that since Aug.8, RC2 has recovered 56 percent of the toys included in its June 13 recall. The company recalled 1.5 million toys in North America.
“We are still working with the CPSC to determine the best method of disposal for the recalled products,” she said. “Once that is determined, the company will dispose of the potentially unsafe toys.”
AP Business Writer Alex Veiga in Los Angeles and AP writer John Gerome in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to this report.
Posted by Web Team on Thursday, August 16, 2007
COMMENTS
Maybe they can donate them to children in third world countries where the ‘law’ allows Walmart to behave ‘legally’ and Bentonville can advertise themselves as heroic and generous to the world’s poor children. As a tax write off and for ‘export’ numbers contribution the masters of the retail universe can show that they protected the planet as ‘green’ conscious shareholders of the earth although some inhabitants be damned to a leaded hell.
Walmart victory parade in Deludedville
Thursday, August 16 at 06:03 PM
Maybe the headline should read “Union member arrested for child molestation” and the sub-heading could read “UFCW in negotiations”. The two may be unrelated but, through clever use of placement, you’ve just convinced the average reader that the UFCW and a child molestor have some connection.
This is the same shady method routinely practiced by WMW.
Nick in
Friday, August 17 at 05:39 AM
“Maybe they can donate them to children in third world countries where the ‘law’ allows Walmart to behave ‘legally’ and Bentonville can advertise themselves as heroic and generous to the world’s poor children. As a tax write off and for ‘export’ numbers contribution the masters of the retail universe can show that they protected the planet as ‘green’ conscious shareholders of the earth although some inhabitants be damned to a leaded hell.
I think not, SanDiegoView…
Bill
Bill in
Friday, August 17 at 08:07 AM
“The 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda
The WalMart cult like the Hare Krishna, dances around singing that if you oppose their business practices then you are either a communist opposed to capitalism or indifferent to unionized child molestors. The WalMart gifts of propaganda again illustrate Nick and Bill sharing bong hits for Bentonville.
SanDiegoView in
Friday, August 17 at 10:02 AM
Here’s a fun game. Visit the wikipedia page on Propaganda, scroll down to the section on techniques, and see how many you can spot in SDV’s posts. I got 20 out of 30, my favorite being Argumentum ad nauseam.
tjc in NY
Friday, August 17 at 12:22 PM
Argumentum ad nauseam - (very) loosely-translated meaning SDV’s arguments give me nausea!
Bill
Bill in
Friday, August 17 at 12:55 PM
Bill & tjc,
“I got 20 out of 30, my favorite being Argumentum ad nauseam.”
Did it say anything about posting under many different names, to make it appear as though MANY people have the same view as you? SDV does this so often, I start to think he has more personallities than Sybil!!
The one he and Alex use the most, is: “If you repeat something long and often enough, some people will start to believe it to be true”!!
RDS in
Friday, August 17 at 05:49 PM
Maybe instead of returning the money for these dangerous toys, WalMart could start a toy exchange for children’s candy cigarettes or America’s Army video games (already a free download) under a big poster of the Marlboro Marine that says “WalMart Toy Exchange Here. Sorry, No Refunds.”
http://www.americans-working-together.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/marineiniraq.jpg
If the WalMart propaganda doesn’t kill you, tjc and SquareBob SpongePants in Springdale (aka RDS) can always join “Bill” and the new WalMart Internet Media Police (WIMP) and post enough ‘war room’ toxic integrity to choke Goebbels.
EllisW (aka Nick) in 'War Room' denial
Sunday, August 19 at 06:52 PM
Just a Question for you, SanDiegoView
I’m not the first to pick up on your bogus posts. Why do you feel the need to “clog the blog” by constantly doing this?
I find myself agreeing with many of the things you say anyway. You can make your point (s) without having to resort to those phony blogging names...but I have to admit, some of them are quite funny!
ScrewedbyWal-Mart in Anytown, America
Monday, August 20 at 06:20 AM
Screwedby,
“but I have to admit, some of them are quite funny!”
That’s because SDV is a “CLOWN”!! And, you should never take what a clown says seriously!! Jon Stewart of ‘The Daily Show’, says he can’t believe that people take his show seriously, as a ‘real news’ show, because it is comedy, not news!!
RDS in
Monday, August 20 at 09:50 AM
Now You See it My Way, RDS
“And, you should never take what a clown says seriously!!
Does the saying “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” register at all with you, RDS?
ScrewedbyWal-Mart in Anytown, America
Monday, August 20 at 02:43 PM
“The one he and Alex use the most, is: “If you repeat something long and often enough, some people will start to believe it to be true”!!’
RDS in
With one major advantage Bob.
What I say is true.
R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse
R E M E M B E R
J A C K S O N V I L L E
T E X A S
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse
Alex in Ontario, Canada
Monday, August 20 at 02:47 PM
Alex,
“What I say is true.”
In YOUR opinion!! Most normal people would not consider ‘closing a store’ or ‘switching over to packaged meat’, WORKER ABUSE!! To say that it is, is to say that all the stores who have closed their doors or have laid people off because they shut down a certain operation, have abused their workers too!! Therefore, buggy whip makers must have abused their employees when they stopped making buggy whips and their employees lost their jobs!! How about an employee losing their job to mechanization, did their employer abuse them too?
RDS in
Monday, August 20 at 09:47 PM
Nice try Bob. It’s called motive, and you can talk about buggy whips all you want but it won’t change the truth.
R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse
R E M E M B E R
J A C K S O N V I L L E
T E X A S
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse
Alex in Ontario, Canada
Monday, August 20 at 11:22 PM
Alex,
No, it won’t change the truth, and the truth is:
“R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse”
TRUTH: Wal-Mart closed store and never re-opened it!!
“R E M E M B E R
J A C K S O N V I L L E
T E X A S
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse”
TRUTH: Wal-Mart switched from fresh cut meat to pre-packaged meat and have not changed back!!
As to motive, just because you CHOOSE to believe that Wal-Mart’s motive was different than what they said it was, is YOUR problem, some people still believe that JFK and ELVIS are living on an island in the South Pacific, but it doesn’t make it TRUTH!! The fact that after a number of years, Wal-Mart has not reversed either of these situations, tends to show that Wal-Mart did these things for reasons other than abusing a few employees!! There are many OTHER ways to abuse employees without closing down an ENTIRE store or eliminating a store function!!
RDS in
Tuesday, August 21 at 06:06 PM
TRUTH!
“There are many OTHER ways to abuse employees without closing down an ENTIRE store...”
This is something the bean counters in Bentonville have known for a long time.
ScrewedbyWal-Mart in Anytown, America
Wednesday, August 22 at 08:29 AM
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