Being plastic is only cool in "Mean Girls." In the real world, plastic is definitely not fetch.
Plastic is a pervasive issue in the modern world. One Redditor on the r/mildlyinfuriating forum is showing how the youngest generation of consumers is being exposed to (and normalizing) the use of plastic at a young age.
The user shared a photo of all the plastic used for one Ryan's World toy. The poster noted that it was an "obnoxious amount of plastic for one toy."
It's difficult for stores to avoid using single-use plastic for wrapping things like toys. In some cases, the plastic packaging is used for theft protection or to stop handsy children from grabbing and swallowing the toy in the store — especially if the item is small.
However, wrapping these toys in plastic just perpetuates the issue of consumer waste. These plastic products are often non-recyclable and are merely thrown into the trash and shipped off to a landfill. Once the plastic arrives, it sits and breaks down into the environment, causing persistent issues like microplastic pollution.
The concern for waste doesn't just happen at the end of its life cycle either. Plastic products are often manufactured from burning oil, which causes air pollution. Not only does this cost a ton of money for companies to manufacture, but it also causes toxic air and warming temperatures — all for plastic that will be thrown into the trash anyway.
The recycling triangle is a consumer's best defense at knowing whether the plastic wrapping on toys can be recycled.
Single-use plastic, the type often used to encase toys, is commonly a Type 4 low-density polyethylene — which means that it can rarely be recycled curbside. Consumers can instead make the most out of this plastic by finding other uses for it, like picking up dog poop or wrapping around glass to prevent breakage.
Redditors noted that the toy's excessive plastic wrapping was certainly mildly infuriating. "Ughh those Ryan's World toys are the worst," one user wrote.
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