Radio Flyer says it has put greater than 1 billion “wheels” on the street. More and more, its toys — together with the enduring little pink wagon — have gotten extra sustainable.
The 106-year-old firm has systematically eradicated virtually all polyvinyl chloride (PVC) throughout its $150 million (gross sales) product portfolio, which additionally consists of scooters, tricycles, electrical bikes for adults and toy quad runners offered in collaboration with electrical car firm Tesla. Annually it sells “hundreds” of a seashore wagon made with recycled plastic and different reclaimed supplies.
Robert Pasin, Radio Flyer’s chief government and grandson of founder Antonio Pasin, stated the corporate reached these milestones by embedding environmental sustainability metrics in its product growth and design processes.
A shift in pondering is crucial for long-term survival, he stated. “The factor I’d say to different CEOs once I discuss to them is that whether or not you prefer it or not, [sustainability] is the place shoppers are headed, and a variety of them are there,” stated Pasin, whose official title is chief wagon officer. “They wish to know these items, they usually’re going to demand that they know the place the merchandise are from, the way it’s made. That’s simply the development.”
About 60 p.c of shoppers surveyed in 2022 ranked toys, alongside meals and clothes, because the class the place they count on elevated company motion concerning sustainability — primarily within the type of selecting pure supplies equivalent to wooden as an alternative of plastic. In the meantime, the trade makes use of roughly 40 tons of plastic for each $1 million in income, making it essentially the most plastic-intensive shopper sector on the earth, based on information from the U.N. Atmosphere Programme.
Radio Flyer stands out for — and provides classes in — the right way to incorporate environmental concerns in all phases of product growth.
Create new habits for everybody on the firm
Sustainability is entrance and middle at Radio Flyer headquarters in Chicago, the place the corporate put in geothermal heating and cooling to chop pure fuel consumption in half. Rooftop photo voltaic panels generate greater than 60 p.c of the power wanted to run the operations there.
However the clearest alternatives for reductions lie in materials selections and product design modifications.
Greater than 97 p.c of Radio Flyer’s greenhouse fuel emissions come throughout manufacturing. The corporate’s science-based targets are to scale back absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions 33 p.c by 2030 from its 2017 figures; it goals to chop Scope 3 emissions by 28 p.c per ton of product throughout the identical timeframe.
“All people within the firm has objectives for the 12 months, and everyone who touches merchandise has objectives round sustainability, making our merchandise extra sustainable,” Pasin stated. “That stated, I believe habits are much more vital than objectives. Habits of reviewing each product, each materials in each product and saying, ‘What can we exchange it with?’”
Begin on the product design part
One vital software for getting designers and engineers to suppose otherwise is a scorecard developed with consulting agency Pure Methods and made out there as an operational dashboard, stated Eric Selner, government vp of product growth, gross sales and operations at Radio Flyer. The corporate baked life-cycle critiques into design and growth to normalize the concept that environmental concerns — supplies, water utilization, manufacturing processes and power — must be core to all choices. “You want to make it straightforward for the engineers to do the work to ladder as much as these objectives,” he stated.
Materials critiques begin on the idea part when elements equivalent to a toy’s dimension and what can be used to make it are nonetheless malleable. Carbon footprint estimates are generated for every various, so groups can research the implications of substitutions in actual time, Selner stated. Radio Flyer has been a part of the Chemical Footprint Venture since 2016, which it consults to know the well being impacts of supplies alongside carbon footprints.
“You possibly can see how the product you might be designing compares to different merchandise we’re making,” Selner stated, referring to Radio Flyer’s software. “You possibly can see the class common. You possibly can see your product, your product with substitutions. Then, most vital, you’ll be able to see the place all of us want our merchandise to be to satisfy our science-based targets.”
Radio Flyer’s final purpose is to chop the carbon dioxide emissions equal depth of merchandise to a median of 4.3 kilograms or much less, based on its sustainability roadmap. The corporate doesn’t disclose the present common, nevertheless it does provide a number of illustrations of the place its design method has made an affect.
Contemplate supplies, product dimension and manufacturing
One instance is a choice to switch plastic with material within the physique of the 3-in-1 EZ Fold Wagon, reducing the load by 7 kilos and lowering the emissions by 24 p.c. The software additionally guided a redesign of the Huge Flyer Sport tricycle, making it 2.2 kilos lighter and figuring out an area manufacturing supply to lower transportation emissions. And it helped establish supplies substitutions for the Radio Flyer Experience-On, the place it has reduce the carbon footprint in half. “One fewer pound of every thing is best,” Selner stated.
Different sustainable product ideas
Reap the benefits of perks supplied by clients. Radio Flyer stories its emissions to Walmart by means of the retailer’s Venture Gigaton initiative and has been acknowledged as a Giga-Guru, boosting its credibility with shoppers and serving to it establish new product classes such e-bikes, which it entered through the pandemic.
Beware bioplastics, no less than for now. Present choices may be costly and brittle, which is usually a problem for merchandise meant to be sturdy and long-lasting. To that time, Radio Flyer ships “hundreds” of substitute elements to assist clients repair merchandise yearly, together with many lengthy out of guarantee.
Use contract negotiations to encourage suppliers to vary. The corporate’s awards and pricing embody standards equivalent to whether or not companions use renewable power. It’s clearly less complicated to do that when the connection is rising, Selner stated.
Contemplate B Corp certification. Radio Flyer was the primary toy firm to earn this recognition, which assesses environmental, social and governance practices. Pasin stated the method was onerous within the quick time period however price it for long-term strategic insights. “I spotted we have been doing so many issues that will qualify us as a B Corp that we might in all probability get it with out altering lots, which felt actually good,” he stated. “That stated, the [self-assessment] gave us a report card of stuff that we would have liked to enhance.”
How is your organization embedding sustainability into product growth? Electronic mail your greatest practices and case research concepts to [email protected].
