Radio Flyer says it has put greater than 1 billion “wheels” on the street. More and more, its toys — together with the enduring little crimson 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 contains scooters, tricycles, electrical bikes for adults and toy quad runners bought in collaboration with electrical automobile firm Tesla. Every year it sells “1000’s” of a seaside wagon made with recycled plastic and different reclaimed supplies. 

Robert Pasin, Radio Flyer’s chief govt 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 might say to different CEOs once I discuss to them is that whether or not you prefer it or not, [sustainability] is the place customers are headed, and a number of them are there,” stated Pasin, whose official title is chief wagon officer. “They need 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 pattern.”

About 60 p.c of customers surveyed in 2022 ranked toys, alongside meals and clothes, because the class the place they anticipate elevated company motion concerning sustainability — primarily within the type of selecting pure supplies comparable to wooden as a substitute of plastic. In the meantime, the trade makes use of roughly 40 tons of plastic for each $1 million in income, making it probably the most plastic-intensive shopper sector on the earth, based on knowledge from the U.N. Surroundings Programme. 

Radio Flyer stands out for — and presents classes in — methods to incorporate environmental issues in all phases of product growth. 

Create new habits for everybody on the firm

Sustainability is entrance and heart 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 vitality wanted to run the operations there.

However the clearest alternatives for reductions lie in materials decisions and product design adjustments. 

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 all people who touches merchandise has objectives round sustainability, making our merchandise extra sustainable,” Pasin stated. “That stated, I believe habits are much more necessary than objectives. Habits of reviewing each product, each materials in each product and saying, ‘What can we substitute it with?’” 

Begin on the product design section

One necessary software for getting designers and engineers to suppose in another way is a scorecard developed with consulting agency Pure Methods and made out there as an operational dashboard, stated Eric Selner, govt vice chairman 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 issues — supplies, water utilization, manufacturing processes and vitality — needs to be core to all choices. “It’s essential 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 section when components comparable to a toy’s dimension and what will probably be used to make it are nonetheless malleable. Carbon footprint estimates are generated for every various, so groups can examine the implications of substitutions in actual time, Selner stated. Radio Flyer has been a part of the Chemical Footprint Mission since 2016, which it consults to grasp 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 necessary, you possibly can 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, however it does supply a number of illustrations of the place its design method has made an affect. 

Take into account supplies, product dimension and manufacturing

One instance is a call to interchange plastic with material within the physique of the 3-in-1 EZ Fold Wagon, slicing the load by 7 kilos and lowering the emissions by 24 p.c. The software additionally guided a redesign of the Large 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 lower the carbon footprint in half. “One fewer pound of all the things is best,” Selner stated.

Different sustainable product suggestions 

Make the most of perks supplied by prospects. Radio Flyer experiences its emissions to Walmart by the retailer’s Mission Gigaton initiative and has been acknowledged as a Giga-Guru, boosting its credibility with customers and serving to it establish new product classes such e-bikes, which it entered through the pandemic.

Beware bioplastics, a minimum of for now. Present choices could be costly and brittle, which generally is a problem for merchandise meant to be sturdy and long-lasting. To that time, Radio Flyer ships “1000’s” of alternative components to assist prospects repair merchandise yearly, together with many lengthy out of guarantee. 

Use contract negotiations to encourage suppliers to vary. The corporate’s awards and pricing embrace standards comparable to whether or not companions use renewable vitality. It’s clearly less complicated to do that when the connection is rising, Selner stated. 

Take into account 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 may most likely get it with out altering so much, which felt actually good,” he stated. “That stated, the [self-assessment] gave us a report card of stuff that we wanted to enhance.” 

How is your organization embedding sustainability into product growth? E-mail your finest practices and case examine concepts to [email protected].