EL SEGUNDO, Calif., December 10, 2001- The world's largest toy company, Mattel, Inc., has championed a redesign of its voice and music electronic chips to utilize less power, which translates into less batteries purchased and discarded by consumers. Toys utilizing this energy-saving sound microchip, dubbed Green Voice(TM), generate the same level of sound as existing toys, but consume only about a third of the power. Although Mattel engineers conceptualized this revolutionary technology, the company has shared this new technology with the entire toy industry.
"The combined positive implications of the Green Voice energy-saving technology for the toy industry, the environment and the consumer outweigh the technology's proprietary information status," said Rich Molyneux, senior vice president of Quality & Operations Technology. "Whatever the industry, when you discover a technological advance that when applied to the entire industry may have long-term, beneficial effects worldwide, you are bound by your principles to make it accessible to everyone."
To ensure the energy-saving technology is available industry-wide, Mattel has assigned Grow With Me (Educational Research Fund), Inc., a not-for-profit organization, the rights to the Green Voice logo and name. Under the direction of Peter A. F. Lam, executive director of Grow With Me, the non-profit will administrate the Green Voice program. Grow With Me will be responsible for certifying microchip manufacturers that produce Green Voice chips, as well as registering and verifying that toys bearing the Green Voice insignia are manufactured with the energy-saving chip.
"Because Green Voice microchips consume one third the power to produce the same sound, one set of batteries can now do the work of what used to take two or three sets," explains Molyneux, who estimates if all voice and music toys, not just Mattel toys, convert to the Green Voice energy-saving technology, consumers would collectively save between 150 million and 200 million batteries per year.
In order to utilize the Green Voice logo on toy packaging, toy manufacturers must register their toys with Grow With Me for a nominal processing fee, which will be used to fund educational research programs. Consumers can identify toys utilizing Green Voice technology by looking for the Green Voice logo on the packaging, which will be available on Mattel toys beginning next year.
The Green Voice program is just one of the many environmental programs at Mattel. The company's Environmental Health and Safety Commitment is posted on the Corporate Responsibility page of the company's website at www.mattel.com. Signed by Mattel's chairman and chief executive officer, the statement affirms Mattel's commitment to minimizing the company's impact on the environment, as well as protecting the health and safety of its employees and the communities in which it operates.
Additionally, Mattel's worldwide operations department has incorporated environmental objectives into their overall quarterly and yearly goals, allowing for internal measurability, as well as additional accountability for managers and their staff.
In a related issue, Mattel also remains committed to its pledge to identify newly developed, environmentally friendly, and organically based plastics for its products and packaging. "When we announced the initiative in 1999, there were many promising materials under consideration," explains Molyneux. "After extensive research and testing, none of the identified polymers met Mattel's or the industry's stringent safety, structural and quality standards. While the search is proving more difficult than expected there are new materials on the horizon and we are committed to the necessary research and testing in order to identify environmentally friendly alternatives." To date, the company has invested more than $12 million on this project.
Grow With Me, a not-for-profit organization, was formed in 1996 to support research programs related to character building in elementary school children. Currently, Grow With Me supports "Seeds of Character," a research program conducted by the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California - Los Angeles. Grow With Me expanded its focus to educate consumers on how to identify energy saving consumer products (typically toys) through the administration of the Green Voice program.
Mattel, Inc. is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of toys and family products. The company's best-selling brands include Barbie(R), Hot Wheels(R), Fisher-Price(R) and American Girl(R). With headquarters in El Segundo, California, Mattel has offices and facilities in 36 countries and sells its product in more than 150 nations throughout the world. The company's newly designed corporate Web site can be found at www.mattel.com.
