The Environmental Impact of the Hobby

There's a good deal of sense being talked in this thread, I'm pleased to note. The question had also occurred to me. I think it's much more important to look at your consumption in daily life than to worry about an occasional doll purchase. Some of the things I've been doing: I went vegan (for environmental, ethical and religious reasons), with my new job I take public transportation to work, I'm trying to minimize use of my fuel-efficient car, I replaced my bulbs with compact flourescents, and I'm working at consuming more organic and local food and cooking more often. Environmentalism, like veganism, is a journey not a destination--you don't wake up one morning, say "I'm going to be carbon-neutral!" and shazam, you're the perfect little greenie. You make some changes, you forget and buy something "bad", you refocus and try again, you get new information that cancels out what you thought was right, and you pick yourself up and keep going.

 

Like everyone has said the planes will fly if your package is on them or not. If you really want to make a difference to be honest using your computer to look at the doll sites and DOA probably isnt a good use of energy :P.

 

Personally I don't feel bad ordering from overseas. What bugs the heck out of me is the fact that companies are too concerned by the way their outside packaging looks and to me that's a total waste of earth resources, the company's money and our monry.

Whenever you order a doll or stuff, it usually comes in a brand new box imprinted with either the company name or the EMS company and with way too much bubble wrap or packing peanuts inside.
It's a total waste to have the new boxes when they can use recycled boxes.
And why do they need to be imprinted?
And why double box dolls? The dolls are so well cushioned inside their box that they can just wrap the box in packing paper or plastic and the dolls should arrive just fine.
It's a total waste to use so much bubble wrap and packing peanuts stuffing inside the boxes when they can use used newspapers as a filler.

Also, when you order little things, such as clothes, wigs and such, why can't they ship in a recycled bubble envelope rather than waste a box?

I am a big recycler, so this just my rant about the whole thing.

 

While agree in theory about not being wasteful with packaging, I would be very alarmed if my doll was only sent in his/her inner box--it's waaaay to easy to get banged up in shipping. I've had dolls arrive with the outer box all beaten up, but the inner box was luckily ok. When it comes to just sitting on a store shelf to be picked up and taken home, less is more. But when it comes to shipping (especially something fragile), better safe than sorry.

Most of my dolls have come wrapped in between their pillows with their hands bubble or foam wrapped for added protection. My Unidoll was down inside a foam insert. I felt this was very reasonable and effective in keeping them safe. I save and use the pillows for cushioning when they're packed up for traveling to cons and meetups. I agree that styrofoam peanuts should be avoided--there are better ways of packing then that.

Packing in ways that are more environmentally friendly is great, but it still has to be effective or there's no point.

 

I think another problem with not packaging the doll nicely is that the consumers tend to object. For those of us who buy a number of dolls, I agree that the boxes are a hassle and I'd just as soon get a doll that wasn't double-boxed and came with totally recyclable/ reusable packaging. For example, I do save all my bubble wrap and try to get rid of it shipping things like group orders out to other people, or giving it to friends of mine who sell breakable items on eBay. I also recycle a number of the cardboard boxes with my recyclable paper that I put out every other week (we have a pickup here for it).
I'd be perfectly happy if the dolls didn't have an internal box or pillows, and some companies ship them without one, simply using foam or some type of a padded bag.

But I think a certain number of doll buyers expect the doll to come in a nice internal box with pretty pictures and pillows. For what they pay, the presentation is important to them, even if they end up throwing wrapping paper or what not away.

It just drives me nuts that we don't have a "box or no box" option. And to be honest, I think if they knocked off say 50 dollars for not having to put the doll in a fancy internal box, a lot of people would be glad to save the money and skip the box.

 

If you are feeling guilt for the packaging just be sure to recycle it...either when you ship something or to your local recycle center. Then you can cancel out the use of the products. ...either that or donate money to tree farm somewhere.

I always reuse boxes and am proud to say I receive a lot of goods in recycled packaging. I had one box come that I know had been mailed at least 6 times.

 

I can't really do much more than echo other people's opinions. The fact is that shipped goods are sent on passenger planes, so, like others have said, the shipping of our dolls has far less of an environmental impact than, say, the manufacturing.

That being said, it comes to mind that Air Canada (and probably other air carriers) now offers a carbon offset program. How it basically works is that you pay a calculated amount based on where you're flying, and the money goes towards an organization (I believe Air Canada uses Zerofootprint) that takes some sort of action (like reforestation) to offset the amount of carbon theoretically produced by your travels. Of course, there are many of these organizations, and they offer offset credits for not just traveling, but your entire lifestyle. So if you really would like to somehow reduce your impact, perhaps you may want to look into these credits. I personally don't have the means to live a carbon neutral lifestyle right now, but I certainly hope to in the future. It's a cool idea; after all, there are inevitably emissions-producing things in life that you just can't reduce, but that doesn't make them ok.

Hope that helps : )

EDIT » To offset the price of a one-way flight (for one person) from Toronto, Canada to Tokyo, Japan costs around $17 CDN. Just thought I'd add that in, because people always seem to assume that the concept of carbon offsetting is really expensive :/

 

Hm, I personally don't feel I need a box with the doll's name, picture, etc etc on it, but I do want to feel like it's been shipped securely and double boxing with adequate packing is much more confidence-inspiring than being packed in a single box filled with foam peanuts and a padded bag (and foam peanuts are probably worse on the environment than a cardboard box and cotton pillows, though the pillows are probably filled with polyester fiber). Even when sent in double boxes with bubble wrap on the delicate bits and all that, some people have dolls that show up with cracks or broken pieces. Modern shipping techniques are rough (combinations of sorting machines that can really tear up some types of packaging, and human handlers who are often rough with packages and toss them around, really packages are not treated gently at all) and if I'm going to be spending a lot of money on something I'd rather be sure it'll reach me safely.

As for a boxfree option, I think companies that usually ship with boxes probably wouldn't want to add that option for the same reason- fear of broken parts. Even if the broken part's value is replaced by insurance (and I've heard it can be VERY difficult to get insurance money for damaged goods out of some postal systems) the company still usually covers the shipping of broken parts back to them and of the new parts out to a customer. All that shipping will cost a lot more than the box probably does. I think $50 is a pretty high estimate- I'd be surprised if most companies spend over $10 or so on their inner boxes and packaging, and it depends on the country but some postal systems do give out free packaging (like the US does for priority mail). So long as the companies order in bulk, their inner boxes and outer boxes aren't going to be a major money sink. I've also noticed that many companies either have standard boxes for all dolls in a particular line, or if they have personalized boxes (with the doll's name and photos), it seems common for that to be a separate printed sheet which is then glued to the box, and I doubt they pay all that much for those printed sheets (I actually work for a printing company, heh).

 

I would much prefer for my dolls to come double boxed since flying around the world and being tossed around by people does not make for safe journeys. Anyhow, you can easily solve this problem by sending the boxes off for recycling. I personally never throw out bubblewrap and reuse them over and over again. Same for the boxes. If I would need to get rid of the boxes, I would recycle rather than just toss them out. I feel a bit strange having said this because these aren't exactly new and exciting environmentally-friendly practices. By now, everyone should be doing this, not only to the packaging of their dolls, but to every other thing as well.

 

My personal opinion is that an inner box does not offer additional protection over, say, the foams that hold the doll body immobile. The internal box in many cases is kind of flimsy and what is really protecting the doll is the cushioning and bubble wrap that keep it from moving. Edited to add, I've received at least a half dozen dolls shipped from overseas with no internal box and they weren't harmed or broken in any way either. But to each his own. This thread is just a good illustration of how customers would complain if they did away with double boxing.

 

The way I see it, I doubt my doll is on a plane all by itself. It's shipped here with tons of other stuff on its way into this country. Whether my doll is on that plane or not, doesn't make a difference in whether or not it takes off.

As it was said before, hobbyists are a small part of this. We really aren't contributing all that much to it. There are tons of other goods, furniture, food, metals, books, family photos, letters, etc. that are being shipped too. It'd be a lot more expensive if we were more a part of the problem.

 

The thing that worries me is that I often get packages from overseas where the outer layer of packaging has been either punctured or rubbed enough to create holes, especially in the corners. Not just dolls, packages in general. I did have one non-BJD doll sent to me without a shipping box, just in the display box wrapped in paper. The paper wore thin at the corners and scraped the box corners. I didn't really care about the damage to the box as I don't collect packaging (though that box is now used to hold doll clothes) but there was also a really strong nasty smell inside the box, like... fuel or something. I've never had a smell that strong on a plastic, resin, or any type of doll and I suspect that some fuel may have gotten spilled on the package and gotten into the box, or even just fumes got in through the scraped holes in the corners. If that can get in it makes me wonder what else can, you know? : / This was a much cheaper doll than a BJD and the smell went away after having her out of the box for a day or two but it was pretty nasty at first.

 

To me anyway it seems that if one was to have a vice in an increasingly green-conscious world, BJDs wouldn't even be close to the top of the list of most damaging ones. The sense of togetherness they foster among devotees, to me anyway, would outweigh their impact on the natural world. We can all be as green as we want, but if we have no common ground, what can we accomplish? Maybe that's just wishful thinking...

Besides, while the industry looks enormous to us, it's actually quite small in the grand scheme of things.

 

I admit I'm not as Enviro conscious as I should be, but I do try to do my part

Unfortunately, right now we're in the dead of winter... and walking places is near impossible... but I can't stand littering or people who litter... I mean really, how hard is it to hang on to a piece of garbage until you find a trash can to put it in... seriously! Humans these days have gotten SOOO lazy! and especially in the city! Where there's waste and recycle bins EVERYWHERE and people just abuse them....

For shipping I do prefer to keep it close to home, I don't really link global warming to international travel and shipping... I guess I really should though.

It's not like I buy much though. I try to keep it minimal, and do group orders which is more environmentally friendly Plus we save on shipping! xD

 

Resin babies < Beef.
Therefor,
I don't care about how much gas my dolls take to ship. It's really not a big enough consumer community to worry yet. Stuff is always gonna get shipped, be it my stuff or not.

 

Actually, from what I've read, the environmental impact of polyurethane resin is actually pretty minimal... I've done some casting, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to kill off the local songbirds if I spilled the stuff.

And I guarantee that doll manufacturers aren't producing enough to compete with, say, household waste. Well, not BJD manufacturers, anyway... Barbie, maybe.

 

I don't know about anyone else, but my dolls don't stay in their boxes. The boxes get converted to other uses. Such as...my Teds were sent to me in an MSD box. Perfect for my present Christmas ornament collection! My Yo-Tenshi came in an amazingly durable box from Volks---guess what's holding the entire horde's clothes? Doll pillows are great for padding a variety of things, as well.

Bubble wrap and boxes I just save. I've already had a head sent to me in a box that's just perfect forrrrr...my group order where someone's ordered a head. If I didn't destroy the bubble wrap getting it off the product sent to me, it gets folded up for future use. It really isn't that hard to do. If the box can't be saved, into the recycle bin it goes!

It's all in how you reuse. And I DO like my dolls to come in boxes!

 

I dont know what to say but is not the dolls the problem , are human being's way to not have a minimal sence of preserve energy and recycled things in the right way .