Matchbox Has Made A Toy Car From 99% Recycled Materials

It isn’t just full-size cars that are set to become kinder to the environment. US toy giant Mattel has announced something called ‘Drive Toward a Better Future’, which will see all of its products under the Matchbox brand clean up their act.

By 2030, Matchbox die-cast cars, playsets and the packaging they’re sold in will be made from 100 per cent “recycled, recyclable or bio-based plastic,” Mattel says, in line with plans to do the same across the whole company.

That’s still nine years away, of course, but to give us a preview of what that might be like, Mattel has revealed a new Matchbox Tesla Roadster. It’s made from 99 per cent recycled materials and has a Carbon Neutral certification thanks to carbon offset credits spent on helping Colorado and Montana grassland.

In its construction is 62.1 per cent zinc and 36.9 per cent plastic, both recycled, with the remaining one per cent made from fresh stainless steel. It’ll be sold in zero-plastic packaging made using Forest Stewardship Council-approved paper and wood fibres.

It won’t be available until 2022 (meaning it’ll probably be introduced before the real Tesla Roadster), although Mattel is already rolling out plastic-free packaging. The Power Grabs line of cars are thusly packaged, and there’s an “EV-themed” five-pack of cars that now uses an inner tray made from foam instead of plastic.

All of these efforts are wasted if unwanted stuff ends up in landfill, so a recycling drive is a big part of Matchbox’s plans. Any products with electronics will feature all the wiring, PCBs and so forth packaged in a neat, easy to remove module, for instance, and ‘How2Recycle’ labelling will direct people to the right places to dispose of old toys and packaging. The Matchbox brand is also looking at ways to cut emissions from the production of its toys.