MNN - Mother Nature Network

Hasbro, home of NERF, Transformers, Play-Doh, Monopoly and more, is one of the largest toy brands in the world. Despite its worldwide presence, the company did not jump on the corporate social responsibility reporting bandwagon until this year. While Hasbro may be late to the party, they have finally arrived and have set out a solid plan to reduce the company’s impact on the environment.

 

The first ever Hasbro CSR report was published yesterday and the company announced plans to eliminate PVC from Hasbro product packaging. Despite the lack of an official CSR report prior to now, Hasbro has already been working to reduce the environmental impact of its packaging. Changes made in recent years include replacing wire ties with ties made from paper rattan or bamboo, using more recycled paper in the manufacturing of toy packaging and increasing the use of paper products that are sourced from sustainably managed forests.

 

In addition to eliminating PVC from its packaging, Hasbro has committed to several other sustainability goals including:

 

 

The company is already on track to meet some of these goals. When compared to 2008 baseline numbers, Hasbro reached the following levels at the end of 2010:

 

 

Last week, Climate Counts recognized Hasbro as the top scoring company in the toy and children’s sector in the organization’s annual scorecard. Hasbro’s score of 52 earned the company a green light for its efforts at working towards a low-carbon future. Although a score of 52 on a 1 to 100 scale doesn’t sound that great, the company far outperformed the majority of its competitors.

 

The toy and children’s sector was the lowest performing industry on the 2011-2012 Climate Counts Scorecard. Lego came in just behind Hasbro with a score of 49 but the scores drop off drastically from there. Mattel, the largest toy brand in the world, only earned a 24. In fact, six of the 13 companies in the sector received a score of zero.

 

While Hasbro has some work to do to bring its score up the company should be commended for the effort to reduce its environmental impact. Hasbro competitors should take a long, hard look at the company because it is leading the way in corporate social responsibility in the toy industry.