Back in June Bristol was plagued with barbaric chainsaw-accessorised Barbies lurking in trees. A serious message lay behind this. Mattel, the manufacturer of Barbie, was involved in the destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests.
The picture above shows the Doll Formerly Known As Reckless Barbie at Bristol Temple Meads train station.
Now Barbie has realised that toying with deforestation is no game. Mattel has recognized it couldn’t allow its supply chains to include products from deforestation and that toy packaging shouldn’t come at the costs of rainforests and tiger habitat.
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. As part of its new commitments, Mattel has instructed its suppliers to avoid wood fibre from controversial sources, including companies “that are known to be involved in deforestation”. Mattel had already told its suppliers to avoid buying from APP, but this new policy goes much further and tackles deforestation across its whole supply chain.
The policy also aims to increase the amount of recycled paper used in their business, as well boosting the use of wood products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
Greenpeace HQ will be keeping a close eye on Mattel's progress to make sure it sticks to these commitments, and will be pushing other toy companies such as Hasbro and Disney to do the same.
Wherever she may now be, let’s hope Reckless Barbie remains Remorseful Barbie and doesn’t revert to Recidivist Barbie.
See link for full story:
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/forests/mattel-and-barbie-drop-deforestation-2011100
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