Recycling Your Old Toys Just Got Easier

If your old, beat-up collection of Barbies, Matchbox cars, or MEGA Bloks have overstayed their welcome, ditching them (without dumping them into a landfill) just got a lot easier.

As nostalgic as those Barbie dolls from the ‘80s and ‘90s (with the “cute” haircut you gave them or the marker your little brother defaced them with) may have once been, you probably don’t really want them taking up storage space anymore—and nobody else wants them, either.

Fortunately, Mattel will now take them off your hands through its new “PlayBack” program, which is designed to recover and reuse materials found in the toys for use in future Mattel products. That old Ken doll (who is missing a foot, thanks to the family dog) is made of materials that can be repurposed into new toys for kids to enjoy, so you can feel good that his essence will continue to bring joy to others in a fresh form. Likewise, if your kids have destroyed their own more modern versions of these classic toys with the same gusto that you once did, you can offload them without a shred of environmental guilt.

For now, the program is only available in the United States and Canada, and only the Barbie, Matchbox, and MEGA brands of toys are being accepted, although the company’s goal is to eventually accept all Mattel brands. The process to return the toys is easy: Go to Mattel’s website to fill out a brief form and print a free shipping label. Package them up however you’d like, and send them off—there’s no need to clean or repair them in any way, although you do need to remove any batteries for shipping.

This program is really for toys that are not in decent playable condition. If your toys are still in good shape, it’s better to hand them down to a friend or family member, sell them, or donate them to a local charity.