At the American Girl Doll Hospital, consumers can ‘admit’ their beloved dolls in-store or online to be repaired and restored. By maintaining replacement parts for at least 15 years after a doll model’s retirement date, we can fix most parts that are broken, worn, or need replacement.
Common services include removing stains, reattaching limbs, and replacing eyes. We also offer a ‘wellness visit’ to clean the dolls, restyle their hair, and get their ears pierced or a hearing aid installed. When services are complete, we send the doll on its way with a Certificate of Good Health. In 2020, the American Girl Doll Hospital repaired more than 28,000 dolls, extending the play and lifetime of each. Nearly a quarter of the dolls we repair are 10 years old or older.
Mattel is committed to reducing waste and resource consumption in its value chain. We implement various eco-design and circular economy principles in the development of our products and packaging. Eco-design principles consider the environmental impact of the product or package during its entire life cycle, while circular design principles aim to create products that no longer have a life cycle with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Circular design principles support products that aim to be made and remade again.
With these principles in mind, we are designing more of our products for durability, recycling, recovery, and to reuse products, components, and materials. We also aim to make effective use of recycled content and other more sustainable materials that help support a circular economy.
Leveraging in-house and third-party life cycle assessment (LCA) tools, we are working to optimize product design and development choices to help reduce our environmental impact. We are also identifying solutions to advance a circular economy, including by collaborating with other companies on these solutions.
When our toys reach the end of their useful life, we have created a solution designed to allow us to take them back, recycle, and responsibly dispose of them – the Mattel PlayBack program. Consumers can return their toys to us, at no charge through this program. When possible, through our program and recycling partners, we try to convert their materials from waste to energy, or transform the materials into other useful applications, such as post-consumer recycled (PCR) content or new items, such as playground equipment.
Mattel’s Guiding Principles for a Circular Economy
The circular economy is a model aimed at eliminating waste and promoting the continual use of resources.
Ready to Recycle
The materials we recover once a product reaches the end of its life can be reused for new applications. By moving toward closed-loop design, we are helping to divert toys from landfills and extend their material value.