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Where do recalled toys go?

Mattel is scrambling to figure out how to dispose of millions of tainted, unsafe toys.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published August 16, 2007

NEW YORK - Now that toy companies have issued recalls for millions of Chinese-made toys that are either tainted with lead or otherwise hazardous to children, they are scrambling to figure out what to do with them.

Mattel Inc., which on Tuesday recalled about 19-million toys worldwide, said it was working on a "responsible approach" but could not provide details.

Amid the lack of clarity, many parents are confused about how to dispose of the toys. That may mean many of them will end up in the trash and eventually in landfills, where they could possibly leach toxins into the groundwater.

The Mattel recall is the latest in a slew of recalls involving more than 10-million toys since June in the United States alone.

Recalls are expensive

The most alarming has been the recall of toys covered with lead-based paint. Children who ingest lead-laced paint can suffer brain damage, and improper disposal of lead-based paint can damage the environment.

Many retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are offering the option of returning the recalled toys to stores where they are sent back to the makers, but they prefer shoppers sending them back to manufacturers in packaging that the maker provides in exchange for a refund.

"Certainly, there is a significant expense to manage a recall," said Eric Johnson, professor of Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. "This is a big headache."

Lead-painted toys fall under the category of products that would need to be destroyed or properly disposed of, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission in Washington, D.C.

But plenty of other toys - like the millions of toys including Batman and Polly Pockets recalled this week by Mattel because of hazardous magnets - don't necessarily have to be destroyed.

Still, they could present future legal risks if they pop up in a Salvation Army store or other resale site. The magnetic toys were recalled because their small, powerful magnets could harm children if they're swallowed.

Scott Wolfson, a spokesman at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said that a recalled product like a lead-laced toy cannot be exported for resale.

Disposal sometimes is determined as part of a company's recall negotiations with the agency, but ultimately must be in accordance with state and federal environmental laws, he said.

Wolfson said he could not discuss whether the agency entered into any specific arrangements with Mattel on how it should handle its inventory of recalled products.

For toys that don't pose an environmental hazard, such as the recalled magnetic toys, a manufacturer has more leeway. A company may even seek to ship the items for sale abroad.

Some consumer watchdogs think that many parents may find returning a toy and waiting for a voucher a cumbersome process and opt instead to simply throw out the dangerous toys.

Fast Facts:

In China

China blamed a string of problems with its exports on rogue companies on Wednesday and said the overwhelming majority of the food and consumer products it sends abroad are safe.

In a rare news conference, Baoqing Zhao, the first secretary of the Chinese Embassy's trade and commerce section, said the problems represented individual and isolated cases involving illegal companies.

He said his government was taking "resolute measures" to ensure similar problems didn't occur and was meting out fines and prison terms. The company that supplied the lead paint used on the toys recalled by Mattel is under police investigation, Zhao said.

[Last modified August 16, 2007, 00:52:44]