Magic: The Gathering and Monopoly maker Hasbro is ditching plastic packaging in its games

Hasbro has announced plans to remove plastic packaging from its games over the next three years, in an attempt to make the likes of Magic: The Gathering and Monopoly more environmentally friendly.

The toy and games giant’s push to eliminate “virtually all” plastic packaging from its products will begin to take hold next year. By the end of 2022, new games and toys should contain barely any plastic packaging, the company said.

It’s worth noting that – at least for the time being – this sustainability effort won’t necessarily extend to game components such as miniatures, dice and cards, but will include common packaging such as shrink wrap, polybags used to contain components, plastic box windows and elastic bands. Hasbro stopped using wire ties in its toys back in 2010.

The company said it had introduced a plant-based bio alternative to widespread oil-based plastic PET last year, as well as launching a toy recycling initiative and including recycling instructions on its labels based on the How2Recycle system. The TerraCycle recycling programme allows recycled toys and games to be turned into public objects such as benches and flowerpots.

We took a look at the use of plastic in games last summer, finding that although some publishers have taken steps towards making tabletop games more eco-conscious using materials such as recycled cardboard, there’s still a long way to go before plastic is completely replaced or removed in the majority of games. 

Still, a major player like Hasbro making moves in the right direction might help encourage the rest of the hobby to go green; by the end of 2022, hopefully Monopoly and Magic won’t be the only plastic-free games on our shelves.