What's less fun than a brand-new toy? The environmental impact of all that packaging

For kids, there's nothing like the excitement of opening up a brand-new toy, the joy of ripping open a boxto discoverthe shiny, slimy orfluffy treasure inside.

But an Edmonton environmental expert saysthat moment of happiness has a downside: the long-term disposal of the colourful cardboard, wire twist ties, plastic rings, bubble wrap and plastics inwhich the item has been so perfectly packaged.

CBC News purchased five popular toys and unboxed them to see how much was waste and how much could be recycled. The toys were donated to the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters.

While a lot of packagingmaterial might seemlike it's recyclable, it's not, said Courtney Powell, founder of ElevatedEnviro. He's trying toget parents, grandparents and other gift-buyers to thinkabout the effectof packaging on landfills.

"Do they use a mix of materials? Is it a blend of foil and cardboard or foil and plastic? Because that impacts whether it can be recycled or not," Powell said."Is there a lot of small pieces to the packaging? Because the smaller the pieces, the harder it is for sorting facilities to sort that material out."

Those types of scenarios can make it tricky to figure out what can and can't be recycled, he said.

Unboxing waste

5 years ago

Duration 2:20

Where should all of the plastic, cardboard, foil and ties go when you finish unwrapping all those Christmas gifts? The answer might surprise you.

City waste collectors see a doubling of garbage at the end of December compared to the beginning of the month, saidJana Lee, education programs supervisor with the City of Edmonton.

The city has created an online WasteWise appto help people figure out how to dispose of household items, ranging from used gift wrap and broken toys to appliances and shampoo bottles.

Lee said it's importantthatcitizens do their part to divert wasteto the correct stream, whether its an Eco Centre, a recycling bin or a garbage bag. Powell saidit's not always obvious.

The bit of plastic holding aBarbie'saccessory hairbrush in place,for example, probably hasn't been labelled with its grade of plastic. When plastics are recycled, different grades can't be mixed together, he said.

• 'Wasted': Greening the plastics-heavy toy industry
• How to talk to kids about Christmas and plastic toys

Similarly, he said, it's reasonable to expect that cardboard boxes can be recycled, but that's not the case if they've been coated in plastic.

It's kind of the dirty truth here, you know?- Courtney Powell, Elevated Enviro Founder

There's also a hidden environmental cost of cardboard.

"Consider that cardboard and paper materials take more resources to manufacture and make than plastic. It's kind of like the dirty truth here, you know?" Powell said. "We think that, 'Oh great, we can recycle these, so it must be better.' But it's not quite the story. It takes more resources to manufacture those."

He said peoplemaythink they're doing their due diligence by separating garbage from recycling, but if they might not be doing it properly, which could lead to more waste ending up in the landfill.

"If we don't know, the sorters won't know, the recyclers won't know. So, then it goes to the landfill," Powell said.

Before buying the next toy, he said it might not hurt to look closer to see what packaging awaits you inside.