Barbie dolls will soon be wrapped in more than just a mind-boggling array of clothing styles. Barbie and other Mattel toys will soon be sold in more ecologically responsible packaging.
By the end of 2011, the US-based toy titan Mattel plans to use recycled material or sustainable fiber for 70 percent of its paper packaging. They hope to boost that number to 85 percent by the end of 2015.
"We are committed to advancing the use of sustainably sourced paper and wood fiber across our business, beginning with packaging," Mattel vice president Lisa Marie Bongiovanni said in a statement to the AFP.
Mattel's decision came after months of pressure from Greenpeace, an international environmental activism organization, to stop using products from Asia Pulp and Paper. Greenpeace's website states that Asian Pulp and Paper are responsible for rampant destruction of the Indonesian rainforest.
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“Mattel recognized it couldn’t allow its supply chains to include products coming from deforestation and that toy packaging shouldn’t come at the costs of rainforests and tiger habitat,” said a statement on Greenpeace's website.
“As the largest toy company in the world, their new policy sends a message to other companies that to be a responsible business you must be vigilant about keeping deforestation out of your products,” continued the statement.
Greenpeace staged a break-up between the toy world's power couple, Ken and Barbie, via Twitter. They also posted images of Barbie cutting down the rainforest with a chainsaw.
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After Mattel's change in sentiment, perhaps the next step will be solar panels on Barbie's Dream House, and a plug-in electric car to replace her Corvette.
IMAGES:
Greenpeace activists hung this banner on Mattel's California headquarters in June. (Corbis)
The new tokidoki Barbie at the Santa Monica Place mall on October 8. (Getty)
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