Sustainability Services and Solutions for the Toy Industry

Support your toy sustainability story with evidence

Consumers today demand sustainability in the products they buy. Sustainability is no longer only nice to have, but a business-critical imperative for companies everywhere. These days, toy brands, retailers and manufacturers can’t compete in the market without offering proof that their products are sustainably made from responsibly sourced materials. In times when more than 80% of consumers feel strongly that companies should help improve the environment, telling your toy product’s sustainability story can set your brand apart.

Don’t just say your toys are green. Prove it.

Consumers are looking for safer, more sustainable toys for their children to cuddle, snuggle and love. Adding validated sustainability attributes to product labels helps brands build consumer trust and avoid greenwashing claims.

Transparency is key to trust

Consumers demand transparency of businesses involved in creating and bringing toys and youth entertainment products to kids of all ages. They want to know what is in the products, how they are made and what impact the products may have on people and the planet. But the growing number of greener product marketing programs and labeling schemes makes it difficult to sort defensible claims from empty promises. In a market where everyone claims to be green, how can you gain ground and establish credibility? This is where UL Solutions can help.

Help your toys stand out from the pack

UL's Environmental Claim Validation (ECV) helps toy manufacturers communicate their products’ environmentally preferable attributes clearly and credibly, equipping you with a powerful tool for differentiation in an increasingly cluttered marketplace.

Examples of attributes you can validate with UL Solutions' Environmental Claim Validation program include:

• Biobased content - Validates through testing that a product contains biobased content.
• Recycled content - Validates the post-consumer, pre-consumer (post-industrial) or total recycled content of a product by means of auditing.
• Recyclability rate - Evaluates a product’s recyclability through testing or auditing.

As the toy industry evolves to develop new technology that makes products better for the planet, your product’s packaging becomes just as critical a component. The UL Environmental Claim Validation can be applied to product packaging as well.

Show your toys are more environmentally preferable

Engaging UL Solutions for Environmental Claim Validation gives you and your customers peace of mind that an environmental attribute of your toy product or its packaging has passed independent verification and lives up to its sustainable attribute claim.

Upon successful completion of the Environmental Claim Validation program, the Environmental Claim Validation Mark can be proudly displayed on the following materials:

• Advertising
• Catalogs and product manual
• On the product itself
• Product packaging
• Promotional materials and marketing collaterals
• Product web pages and social media posts
• Trade show booth and materials

Environmentally preferable toys made sustainably

Demonstrating your toys are made in environmentally responsible ways can be challenging. UL Solutions is here to help with a number of programs and tools to aid you in showing customers and consumers how your environmentally preferable toys have been made sustainably, including carbon accounting, net-zero water, waste diversion and responsible sourcing.

Waste diversion

Proving to parents and retailers that you responsibly deal with manufacturing waste can be a distinct differentiator in an increasingly crowded toy market. To earn a Zero Waste to Landfill claim validation Mark, a Virtually Zero Waste to Landfill claim validation Mark, or a Landfill Waste Diversion claim validation Mark , companies undergo a two-part, UL Solutions-led audit, which includes document evaluation and on-site visits. Each claim validation Mark clearly indicates the facility's specific rate of landfill diversion. Facilities with landfill waste diversion claims that have been validated by UL Solutions are audited annually and featured in UL Solutions’ Sustainable Product Database.

Net-zero water

At UL Solutions, we can help you manage the amount of harmful wastewater that is discharged into surrounding ecosystems and communities — minimizing your water footprint in your community. Backed by our independent rigor and integrity, working with us will enable you to demonstrate your commitment to environmental stewardship by complying with the appropriate safety regulations, including Greenpeace’s global Detox campaign. By signaling a willingness to invest in the future through sustainable and ethical practices, you differentiate yourself in a competitive green marketplace.

Responsible sourcing

UL Solutions offers a full portfolio of responsible sourcing services to address the evolving needs of the marketplace. When you need to prove to parents and retailers that your toy products are made from ethically sourced and responsibly produced materials, UL Solutions can help you with a range of services from raw material traceability to navigating the International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI) Ethical Toy Program (IETP). The ICTI Ethical Toy Program is an independent, not-for-profit organization that works to improve ethical and sustainability standards in the global toy industry supply chain.

Product Carbon Footprint Verification

As ULSolutions continues to expand its services to meet growing stakeholder demands for transparency and meaningful sustainability action, we now offer product carbon footprint verification in accordance with ISO 14064-3. Consumers care about the carbon footprint of the products they buy. A life cycle product carbon footprint measures the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by a product.

Greenhouse gas emissions reporting

As GHG emissions reporting becomes commonplace, it is important to assure customers and consumers that GHG statements contain accurate information. UL Solutions. can help you calculate GHG emissions of your toy product in a number of ways, including zero waste auditing through our Circularity Facts program, which measures circularity for both products and sites.

Reporting carbon emissions

Reporting carbon emissions is increasingly a must-do for small- to medium-sized businesses. This is driven by regulatory requirements, business benefits and consumer expectations to manage carbon emissions.

UL Solutions offers solutions and tools to help manage carbon footprint reporting at the enterprise level through our software portfolio:

• Turbo Carbon software provides a simple, quick and affordable way to achieve supply chain carbon accounting. The entire process can be done online and includes features that help improve the accuracy of data for carbon reporting needs that emerge from customer requests, customer data platform requisites and regulatory requirements.
• UL’s 360 software helps you to consolidate complex enterprise information, reduce errors and missing documentation, maintain records in a centralized digital system, enable information sharing among multiple stakeholders and provide easy access information for reporting compliance and auditing.