SABIC announced a collaboration with Mattel to incorporate certified renewable polymers from SABIC’s TRUCIRCLE™ program across the toy giant’s products offering.
The first Mattel toy products to enter the market in 2022 using certified renewable SABIC® PP (polypropylene) polymers will be MEGA BLOKS Green Town, which is the first toy line available at mass retail to be certified CarbonNeutral. From the Matchbox brand, all Action Driver playsets and the Matchbox Recycling Trucks contain SABIC materials. This supports the brand’s Driving Toward a Better Future initiative, to make all Matchbox die-cast cars, playsets, and packaging with 100 % recycled, recyclable, or biobased plastic materials by 2030.
The partnership lines up with Mattel’s goal to achieve 100 % recycled, recyclable, or biobased plastic materials in its products and packaging by 2030 and is an important step forward in their transition towards a circular economy. Mattel is the first toy company to work with SABIC in a mass balance approach designed to return second-generation renewable feedstock into high-quality new plastic applications.
The MEGA BLOKS Green Town playsets are made from specifically a minimum of 56% plant-based materials and a minimum of 26% International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) certified bio-circular plastics (mass balance approach). The products are certified CarbonNeutral by Natural Capital Partners, since MEGA purchased carbon offsets (less than 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents) from the Darkwood Forests Conservation project in Canada. Packaging is created with 100 % Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified paper or paperboard.
Matchbox is introducing more products designed to have less environmental such as new electric vehicle (EV) die-cast multi-packs; new Recycling Truck made from 80% ISCC-certified bio-circular plastic; and popular Action Drivers™ playsets using at least 40 % ISCC-certified bio-circular plastic. More products are being designed for recyclability by incorporating easy-to-remove and recycle e-waste electronics in all.
Both MEGA and Matchbox are part of Mattel PlayBack, a toy takeback program designed to recover and reuse valuable materials from old Mattel toys.
SABIC’s certified renewable polymers include several polypropylene and polyethylene materials sourced from second generation renewable feedstock. A lifecycle analysis confirmed their superior sustainability, concluding that each kg of the company’s biobased resins reduces CO2 emissions by an average of 4 kg as compared to fossil-based virgin alternatives, while at the same time cutting fossil depletion by up to 80%.
SABIC’s renewable plant-based polymers facilitate the change-over from existing fossil-based applications without compromises on purity, quality, safety, or convenience. Their sustainability is validated using a mass balance approach under the widely recognized International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS) scheme. The certification provides traceability throughout the partners’ entire supply chain from the feedstock to the final product.
