MGA Entertainment, Incorporated (MGA), one of the largest and fastest growing privately held toy company in the U.S., has announced that in April the company will begin to produce their globally recognized and highly popular L.O.L. Surprise! iconic spherical packaging using sustainable materials, like bamboo, wood, sugar cane and other natural materials, in place of plastic via the Earth Love line. The new spheres are compostable and do not include plastic wrapping. Launching with the first of these sustainable spheres is the all new L.O.L. Surprise! Earth Love, just in time for Earth Day, featuring two new characters, Earthy B.B. and Grow Grrrl. These new dolls come with gardening accessories and can be found exclusively at Walmart.
By Fall 2022, the company plans to transition about 65 percent of their L.O.L. Surprise! plastic balls to the new sustainable packaging at all retailers globally, while still providing the unique and thrilling unboxing activity loved by kids around the globe. As a result of this packaging update, it is estimated that about 45 million L.O.L. Surprise! toys will be produced with sustainable packaging, representing at least three metric tons of plastic eliminated from the toy line in 2022 alone. In addition, the launch of L.O.L. Surprise! Earth Love toys and the new packaging hopes to spark important conversations about the environment and sustainability with families around the globe.
In 2019, MGA committed to two important sustainability goals to reduce their carbon footprint: To achieve and maintain 95 percent recycled or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified content in the paper and wood fiber used in our products and packaging; and to achieve 100 percent recycled, recyclable or bio-based plastic materials in our products and packaging by 2025. While the company has taken a variety of steps toward these goals over the last two years, the launch of sustainable packaging for its top-selling L.O.L. Surprise! line is the most recent and impactful to date.
“MGA is committed to sustainability and eco-friendly initiatives, and we are proud to take this monumental step with our new L.O.L. Surprise! Earth Love toys, with many more to come,” said MGA Entertainment Founder and CEO, Isaac Larian. “In 2019, we made a commitment to work toward making our toys more sustainable by 2025 and with this launch today, we are taking a big step toward this promise, hoping to set an important precedent within the toy industry that directly affects our future leaders.”
To address the current plastic spheres, MGA will continue their partnership with TerraCycle, a global leader in recycling complex material, to accept and recycle any plastic L.O.L. packaging, making it easy for fans and families to collect and recycle their packaging. Parents can visit TerraCycle.com for details.
Aside from Earth Love, MGA has made sustainability a focus through everything the company does, from products to content to how they operate their offices around the world. Examples include:
- Little Tikes Let’s Go Cozy Coupe episode that centers on recycling awareness
- Social media content shared across MGA’s channels highlighting DIY tips and tricks for repurposing L.O.L. Surprise! packaging in creative ways
- Introduction of the Real Wood Adventure collection from Little Tikes.
- In Poland, teams changed Cozy Coupe floorboards from yellow and pink to black to minimize waste and enable the use of recycled material. The team also uses boxes made from 100% recycled cardboard exclusively, turns 100 percent of production scraps back into production, and introduced a Go Green line of toys that are 92.3 percent made of recycled materials.
- At their California headquarters, all plastic water bottles have been replaced with water filtration systems; utensils, plates and supplies are bamboo or recycled paper products; and employees are encouraged to drive electric cars by offering free charging stations.
For more information on MGA and its sustainability initiatives, please visit www.mgae.com/sustainability.