Play-Doh

My 4 year-old recently had a birthday. A friend called me from the ToysRUs to get approval for what her kids had picked out for him. (What a good friend, right?) I quickly exnayed their selection and suggested some Play-Doh. It’s cheap and readily available and he LOVES it. Dawn made a terrible kidney-stone flair up kind of groan when she overheard me. She admitted an intense hatred of Play-Doh and its stickiness and messiness and all-around pointlessness. I was shocked, but dismissed her as a oddity. Then I saw Kate of Jon and Kate Plus 8 hatin’ on Play-Doh, and I got to wondering if I was the oddity. So now I am conducting an informal survey. A simple question - Play-Doh? Fabulous activity with endless creative opportunity OR Bane of every self-respecting Mother in America?

Here’s my only beef with Play-Doh. The containers aren’t recyclable. Boo-Hiss! My plan is to take a picture of my kids playing with the God-sent goo and then send the picture and a nice letter to Mr. Play-Doh thanking him for his long and continuing legacy. I will go on to suggest (beg) that his company rethink its packaging to include only recyclable containers. Who will join me?

I just took a short break to look on the Hasbro website for an address to include here so that all of you who exuberantly exclaimed, “I will!” would have the necessary information. Would you believe that they don’t have an address posted? Only e-mail to a customer service rep and a hotline. (I can’t say or hear the word hotline without thinking about President Bartlet calling the Butterball hotline at Thanksgiving. Hilarious!) Dawn points out that I can’t be disappointed about the end of the dream of my letter-writing campaign considering that the campaign is about conservation and e-mailing conserves paper. So, Fine. For just a second, I hate it when she’s so sensible.

I just took another break to send my email. This is what I wrote.

Dear Mr. Play-Doh (as you are affectionately called by my children),
Please reconsider the packaging of Play-Doh. The small plastic containers are not recyclable. My kids are very disappointed about this. They even suggested that we make our own Play-Doh at home instead of buying more evil little containers. Please save me from that. Thank you -

When I clicked on “submit email” I was lead through prompts to supply my vital info. Begrudgingly, I did. Then I took a little survey. Then I gave a DNA sample (surprisingly painless). Then I was promised that there was only one more page to go until my email would actually be submitted. Then I was shown a suggested FAQ that may answer my email. This is what it said.

Play-Doh is loved by consumers around the world and all the manufacturing comes from the same place. Recycling requirements vary by country and it would be next to impossible to control the markings without confusing consumers.
Play-Doh cans use 3 different kinds of resin. The can itself is PP (Polypropylene), or number 5, and the lids are EITHER a blend of LDPE (Low density Polyethylene), which is #4, and HDPE (High Density Polyethylene), which is #2, OR just HDPE (2).
We suggest you check with your municipality to see if the cans should be recycled in your area.

Awesome.