M&S Plastic toy giveaway

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M&S Plastic toy giveaway

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tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed Jul 17, 19 2:55 pm Post subject: M&S Plastic toy giveaway

In response to this news I thought I'd contact M&S:

Welcome to M&S Live Chat. An adviser will be with you shortly.

You are now connected with Garneth

T: I'm just reading about the plastic toys giveaway, I can't understand how this can make sense in terms of sustainability.
I thought M&S had a commitment to reduce plastic waste, or am I wrong?

G: No, you are certainly not wrong. At M&S, we’re committed to reducing our use of plastic packaging and reusing or recycling any we do use. Our Little Shop collectables have all been designed to last and used again and again, but if our customers have finished playing with Little Shop, we encourage them to ‘Play, Give, Recycle’ to ensure that no M&S Little Shop collectables go to waste. We encourage our customers to give their collectables to family or friends. Alternatively, we ask our customers to bring them into our food information desks, so we can give them to other collectors and at our 70 swap events.

G: We also have Little Shop collectables made from cardboard that are widely recycled. We’ve also ensured all single-use packaging is made from paper instead of plastic.

G: If there are any leftover collectables after the campaign, we’ll recycle them through our plastic take-back scheme. We’ll give the collectables a completely new life and turn them into new playground equipment.

T: But surely a free plastic giveaway is doing nothing to improve M&S carbon footprint? I'm at a loss to understand the thinking behind it

G: As above it is not a plastic giveaway. Additionally we have actions in place so that they are not wasted at all.

So, not waste at all. Environmentally flipping benign

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46238
Location: yes

Posted: Wed Jul 17, 19 4:28 pm Post subject:
if it wasn’t for the in the earth to plastic toy stages one could greenwash it as carbon capture. ditto end of use issues. when ever it is used bits will become part of the environment and discard is a bit random for such items. i am having problems putting the greenwasher on spin for this.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15987

Posted: Thu Jul 18, 19 5:56 am Post subject:

I agree with you Dpack, but not as bad as the sort that fall apart in no time. Until we start making that sort of thing out of wood or perhaps china again, and even that will have a carbon footprint in the manufacture, plastic is all there is. The basic idea behind the give away is good, as I understand from the adverts that it is to help children understand where stuff comes from, and to enable them to 'play shops'.

The concept of these give aways is going to be hard to break, as some breakfast cereals had them as long ago as my childhood I seem to remember, so the best part of 60 years.

gregotyn

Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 19 3:20 pm Post subject:
...and more years beyond ,MR., I remember them well as a child. I applaud the play and give away theory, they should surely be self sufficient by now-no need to keep making them!

NorthernMonkeyGirl

Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4630
Location: Peeping over your shoulder

Posted: Sun Jul 21, 19 10:56 am Post subject:

Never mind the costs of manufacture and distribution hmm?

As for play...yeah it's to make sure little Debbie and Alfie are familiar with product lines, brands, marketing buzzwords. Make Daddy buy the orange juice that matches what the kiddies have!
Let's be honest, if it were about educating all children about fruit and veg, it wouldn't rely on parents shopping at m&s to start with. Little Kayden and Hayley off the local estate won't be getting these.

buzzy

Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds

Posted: Sun Jul 21, 19 5:50 pm Post subject:

Mistress Rose wrote:

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
The concept of these give aways is going to be hard to break, as some breakfast cereals had them as long ago as my childhood I seem to remember, so the best part of 60 years.

Oh yes. I remember tiny plastic submarines that had a small compartment which one filled with baking powder, and closed with a pierced metal cap. Pop them in a jam jar of water and they sank to the bottom for a while, and as the water acted on the baking powder, carbon dioxide was generated and the sub floated to the surface. Then the bubble of gas popped out, and the sub sank. Repeat till all the baking powder was used up.

I remember divers that worked on the same principal.

Then there were plastic dinosaurs (two and a half dimensional), some of which I remember as being luminous

There were others, as well.

Henry

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15987

Posted: Mon Jul 22, 19 7:00 am Post subject:

I don't remember anything as complicated as that as a giveaway, but when I was getting that sort of thing plastic was a fairly new sort of thing. I do remember Frosties giving tokens that you exchanged for a tiger; it had a metal frame and was covered with a rubbery stuff so you could move it around. Sadly the rubber stunk. Probably had the more advanced ones for son, but being a difficult sort of mother I went for the simple things rather than the freebie plastic toy.

lowri

Joined: 18 Oct 2006
Posts: 1322
Location: ceredigion

Posted: Sat Jul 27, 19 2:47 pm Post subject:

Yes, Buzzy, I remember the diver!
I also remember a full-colour cut out of different houses that came as a flat piece of cardboard attached to the back of a large packet of Rinso washing powder, and you cut it into pieces (round the dotted line!) and stuck them together to make a model house! We collected them for years. The clever thing was that you could detach it before having to use up the packet first! I think I remember an Elizabethan mansion and a church! Or is this all just childhood imagination?

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15987

Posted: Sun Jul 28, 19 7:51 am Post subject:
That sounds a good one Lowri. I don't think we ever had that brand of soap powder, so missed out on it.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46238
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Jul 28, 19 2:23 pm Post subject:

60's stuff had some wild giveaways, the toys were variable from fun to deadly, i do remember packaging that could become a building or car, the divers were fun

one strikingly austin powers range was the less than convincing plastic daffodil with every packet of washing powder which developed into tulips after a few months.

on the positive side there were products that used reusable packaging,

ie buy a big jar of coffee and have a decently robust storage jar for raisins or sugar or a tea brand using a tin now and again to establish their brand in the kitchen even if it was full of marbles

imho reusable is even better than recyclable if it is done well

some stuff can be both, tis amazing the number of uses a plastic bottle can be put to, spaghetti servers was rather tidy , a ladle with holes and a crenelated edge to help with capture and restraint from the base of a bottle is a handy intermediate use between primary and recyc

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15987

Posted: Mon Jul 29, 19 7:21 am Post subject:

I agree about reusable packaging, and still have quite a lot from some years ago. The trouble is that you can get too many coffee jars.

Glass for packaging is better than plastic, but my main hate is lids that use excess plastic. I unfortunately have to buy the product because I like that brand, but object to the waste of plastic.

There are a few shops now that you can take your own container, which is a good thing, but none near here unfortunately. We reuse our milk containers as water bottles for the woods, melting pots for wax, funnels, and anything else we can, but they end up getting recycled. Returnable glass bottles are better, but do require a certain amount of logistics to collect and clean them.

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