Mattel employees plant trees near their South Los Angeles office. | Source: Mattel

Mattel is no stranger to doing good. Through its various foundations and philanthropic enterprises, its goal is to give back to the communities in which the company lives, works, and plays. Now, it plans to fight environmental inequity from the roots up through its partnership with American Forests.

“Low-income neighborhoods across the country are too often situated in areas where trees are sparse, preventing them from realizing the numerous well-being benefits trees provide,” says Pamela Gill-Alabaster, head of global sustainability at Mattel. She gives the example of Phoenix, which went more than 143 days with temperatures above 100 degrees in 2020. “This dangerous heat is felt more strongly in communities with less tree canopy cover to provide shade and lower temperatures,” Gill-Alabaster says. Many of these areas are lower-income and communities of color.

American Forests launched nearly 150 years ago with the idea to conserve forests using science-based methods and strategy. Today, it uses the same ideals and heavily focuses on modern problems: climate change and social inequity. The organization hopes that its Tree Equity program will help to end both issues by planting trees in the areas that need their benefits the most.

According to American Forests, neighborhoods that were historically redlined have fewer trees. By planting more trees, the organization can provide communities with shade and fresh air. This, in turn, reduces heat-related illnesses and utility costs. American Forests plans to plant trees in 100 cities, establish 100,00 forestry jobs, and create heat resilient communities — all by 2030.

Related: Fisher-Price Joins the Mattel PlayBack Program

DOING GOOD WHERE THEY PLAY

Mattel will join American Forests and its local Los Angeles partner, TreePeople, to help bring these goals to fruition. The partnership kicked off early this year when Mattel employees got a little dirt on their hands and planted several trees near the company’s headquarters.

Mattel’s South Los Angeles location was chosen for the volunteer effort using American Forests’ Tree Equity Score — a measurement that is based on the canopy cover, surface temperature, income, employment, race, age, and health factors of an area. For communities with a low score, a team of forestry professionals provides recommendations on the best location and distribution for the trees to be distributed.

“The scope of that ambition is global, but the company cares about giving back to its local community in particular,”  Gill-Alabaster says. 

REDUCING CARBON EMISSIONS

In addition to planting trees, Mattel is determined to reduce its carbon emissions by taking fewer trees out of our forests. In 2020, the company achieved its goal to use 97% recycled or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified content in the wood and fiber used in its products. By 2030, its goal is to achieve 100% recycled, recyclable, or bio-based plastic materials in all products and packaging. The company believes that addressing its own materials waste can help influence packaging and waste systems for other companies trying to make a difference.

Mattel’s packaging approach incorporates four principles of circularity: reduce, replace, reuse, and recover. The company hopes to use less harmful materials, substitute virgin plastics with renewable or recycled materials, develop packaging that can be used in multiple ways, and add more communications on how consumers can recycle products properly. In short: Plastic is out; renewable is in.

Since 2011, Mattel has worked with the Rainforest Alliance, an international organization that works toward global sustainability, to audit its paper packaging and wood fiber use by source, volume, and type. As a part of the alliance and its goals, Mattel is taking the brands we all know — and most of us grew up with — and turning them green. 

The Matchbox Recycling Truck. | Source: Mattel

Last year, Mattel launched Matchbox Driving Toward a Better Future, a product roadmap that aligns the toy car brand with the company’s goals for plastic elimination and greener play patterns. This April, the company continued the program by introducing the Matchbox Recycling Truck. The 15-inch truck is made from 80% International Sustainability & Carbon (ISCC)-certified plastic. During that same month, Mattel also launched the MEGA Bloks Green Town line. Each of the four playsets in the line are certified carbon neutral and made from a minimum of 56% plant-based materials and 26% ISCC-certified, bio-circular plastics. In the doll aisle, Barbie Loves the Ocean is the first fashion doll to be made from 90% plastic (not including the dolls’ head and some accessories) sourced from within roughly 30 miles of waterways without a formal waste collection system. The doll features 100% plastic-free packaging that is also FSC-certified.

These toys and more are a part of the growing trend of toy companies taking control of what they put into the world. It’s not just about giving kids something to play with, it’s about making sure they have a world in which they can continue to play.

Mattel gives back to the communities in which it lives, works, and plays — but also hopes to make the world a better place for us all to live, work, and play for years to come.


This article was originally published in the June 2022 edition of the Toy Book. Click here to read the full issue!

About the author

Nicole Savas

Nicole Savas

As a kid, Nicole either wanted to be a professional toy player-wither or a writer. Somehow, as social media editor for The Toy Insider, The Toy Book, and The Pop Insider, she’s found a career as both. She's grateful to work somewhere that she can fully embrace both her love of teddy bears and her admiration for the Oxford comma. When she's not playing with toys at work, she's playing with her baby girl at home.

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