Design Life-Cycle

Christina Chung

Anna Zhang, Emma Arntzen

DES 40A

Professor Cogdell

SKULLPANDA Blind Boxes - Wastes and Emissions

Coming all the way from overseas China is a toy company that has taken social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram reels by storm. With a catchy popping name and a multitude of unique designs, POP MART settles comfortably in the US, with plans to open more stores in subsequent years. Their main offering is blind boxes, which involves a mystery collectible toy hidden by packaging. Through this gimmick, the company preys on the subconscious psychology of consumers, offering promises of greater rewards through repeated buying and thus stimulating an addictive behavior reminiscent of gambling. POP MART has a variety of different characters and stories under its brand, one of the consumers’ favorites being SKULLPANDA, a figure described to be a “universal symbiont” characterized by doll-like features and very specific headgear designs that almost always include two rounded balls on the side. Like most other blind box collections, a typical SKULLPANDA collection will have twelve regular designs and one rare, secret design. The ultimate goal is to collect them all, however, this can often take a while because consumers cannot choose which design to buy due to the hidden packaging. As one can imagine, this process is quite wasteful, since it’s easy to accumulate duplicate figures through repeated buying. Not to mention, SKULLPANDA figures and blind box figures in general are made entirely of plastic materials. The manufacturing of plastic and its processing to be turned into figures inevitably produces lots of wastes and emissions, not to mention the inefficient process it takes to responsibly recycle them after use often means that they end up in landfills, contaminating the environment with microplastics. As such, it is important for consumers to be educated on the waste produced at every stage of a SKULLPANDA figurine’s life cycle, so that they can understand the environmental consequences that come with the exponentially increasing consumption of blind boxes. 

A SKULLPANDA figurine is made purely out of synthetic materials. Every single component is made out of either polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), both of which are synthetic polymers of plastic. For PVC, its formation begins with saltwater and liquid petroleum, from which chlorine and ethylene, respectively, are extracted [1]. The extraction of chlorine from saltwater occurs through electrolysis, the process of sending an electric current through saltwater to change its molecular structure, resulting in the formation of chlorine along with sodium hydroxide and hydrogen gas as additional byproducts [1]. Due to the highly reactive nature of the three resulting products, it is incredibly important to have preventive machinery that would obstruct any direct contact between the three [2]. For example, the combination of chlorine and hydrogen causes an explosive reaction upon exposure to sunlight that produces hydrogen chloride gas, a hazardous substance that is “irritating and corrosive to any tissue it contacts” (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) [3]. As for the extraction of ethylene [1] [4], liquid petroleum is heated under extreme pressure to break apart its molecular composition to capture ethylene gas for use, a process that involves substantial energy input and output, ultimately contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions [5]. At this point, a lot of waste and emissions have already accumulated, but the road to PVC is not over yet. The next step is to combine the chlorine and ethylene to create ethylene dichloride, which then goes through pyrolysis to produce vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) [1]. The final step of polymerizing VCM to create PVC releases toxins like dioxin, which manufacturers under regulation use catalysts to absorb and eliminate its threat [6]. The resulting PVC is brittle and inflexible, therefore, it must first be treated with additives to enhance its qualities to be suitable for manufacturing use [7]. The second type of synthetic plastic used, ABS, is synthesized by “polymerizing styrene and acrylonitrile in the presence of polybutadiene” (Sybridge Technologies) [8], a process that emits a variety of greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide, methane [9] [10], etc. From just the acquisition of raw materials and the synthesization of secondary materials for creating SKULLPANDA figurines, tons of waste and emissions have already been created. 

Moving on to the manufacturing of the figurine itself, the primary method of production is injection molding [11]. After receiving the design for the specific SKULLPANDA figurine, a metal mold, often steel, is created. Oftentimes, multiple molds are needed to complete a singular figurine design (e.g., separate molds for head, body, arm, leg components). Prior to injection, the PVC/ABS are melted at high temperatures, emitting toxic fumes like dioxin (known to cause cancer) and other volatile organic compounds [12]. Once melted, the plastic is injected into the mold at a certain speed via a highly controlled injection machine. The mold is then cooled to cure the liquid plastic, completing the manufacturing of the figurine component. Afterwards, the base colors for the figurine (e.g., skin tone, hair color, etc.) are spray painted onto the specific parts, followed by hand-painted detailing (e.g., face, clothing details, etc.). Finishing up, the separate components are glued together to create the finished figure, which is then packaged into a standard plastic bag, and then placed into a customized cardboard box. This entire manufacturing process includes the use of industrial machinery through assembly lines, a practice that inevitably releases carbon dioxide. Adding on, in a video from POP MART showing the general process of making vinyl art toys (not specific to SKULLPANDA, but assumed that the process is similar for all POP MART figurines), it is observed that all workers wore very minimal protective gear at every step of the process, i.e., only wearing a t-shirt or having no face shields while cutting/grinding metals, raising a concern over safety in POP MART’s manufacturing factory especially when handling hazardous wastes and byproducts [13]. Overall, the manufacturing process for SKULLPANDA figurines also releases its fair share of waste, though amounts are unspecified.

In terms of distribution, most of POP MART’s factories are assumed to be located in mainland China, since a lot blind box designers like Xiong Miao, the designer of SKULLPANDA, are based in China [14]. POP MART sells its products either through physical stores or online through their website. They have more than 450 stores in over 30 countries, as well as 2,300 Robo-Shops, their very own branded blind box vending machines [15]. Transporting wholesale amounts of figurines from China, whether it be through air, land, or water travel, to all of these different locations consequently produces a lot of carbon dioxide emissions. Not to mention, their Robo-Shops operate under 24/7 electricity, which subsequently also produces carbon dioxide.

Once the SKULLPANDA figurines have reached the shelves of stores and are bought by consumers, it enters the “Use” stage of its life cycle. Because of its fundamental purpose as a collectible, the figurine most likely spends the majority of this phase sitting on someone’s shelf or desk for display, producing no waste or emissions. It could also be used for content purposes on TikTok or Instagram reels, being at the forefront of the “unboxing videos” trend, where content creators unbox things for their viewers [16]. In terms of maintenance, not much is needed other than the occasional dusting if taken care of properly. Buyers should keep in mind to keep it away from direct heat or sunlight, as it may affect the durability of the material. If breakage were to occur, e.g., a detached arm, a durable glue like superglue would suffice. Due to its simple nature and function, not a lot of waste is produced from the usage of SKULLPANDA figurines. 

Being made of plastic, the average lifespan of SKULLPANDA figures span across decades. Rather than directly disposing of the figurine, owners of SKULLPANDAs are often able to make profit by reselling or trading them on online shopping platforms like Ebay due to the large demand for specific designs, especially the rare ones. However, if the figure were to be recycled, it can go through either mechanical recycling or chemical recycling for PVC [17]. With mechanical recycling, the PVC is ground into small particles to be remelted and reused after cleaning. As for chemical recycling, the PVC either goes through pyrolysis or hydrolysis to be converted into reusable products like sodium chloride, calcium chloride, etc. that can be used to produce new PVC. In general, mechanical recycling of PVC produces less greenhouse gas emissions than chemical recycling, with Oeko-Institut claiming the exact number to be 9% lower [18]. Manufacturers and recycling companies should strive to recycle their PVC materials, as PVC recycling is able to save up to 90% of the energy input involved in making PVC from scratch, thereby reducing carbon emissions [19]. 

However, in the scenario that a SKULLPANDA figurine simply ends up in the landfill with no hopes of being recycled, it would take about 450 years for the PVC material to biodegrade [20]. Due to the synthetic nature of PVC, its degradation releases microplastics into the environment, damaging the atmosphere, soil, and waters and consequently harming the local ecosystems sustained by these environments [21]. As of today, microplastic contamination can be found in a variety of food products consumed by humans, including water and meat products. Effects of microplastics in the human biological system include interference with biological processes, and in severe cases, could have a “negative impact on mobility, reproduction and development”, according to a research on microplastics [22]. With PVC’s potential to create dire environmental and biological consequences, it is imperative that the waste from PVC-based figurines like SKULLPANDA be managed and recycled in an environmentally-friendly way.

As blind boxes like SKULLPANDA become increasingly more trendy and popular, it’s important to review their life cycle and recognize the substantial amount of waste that is produced at every step, starting from raw materials and ending at waste management. Consumers need to understand that the fundamental concept of blind boxes is an environmental disaster. By marketing it as a mystery collectible with no guarantee of getting a unique product, consumers are encouraged to keep buying in order to get the design they want or the one that’s missing from their collection. As such, duplicate products easily pile up, and because there’s not an actual function of the figurine itself other than for display purposes, it is essentially “trash” or more formally, waste. Blind boxes are by no means a necessity, yet when POP MART comes out with a new line of designs, consumers rush to buy it. This is a behavior that should not be further encouraged, and POP MART should try to introduce more environmentally friendly processes for the sake of our planet. 

Bibliography/Footnotes

[1] “Polyvinyl Chloride - What It Is, How It’s Made.” Kent Elastomer Products, 19 Apr. 2024, www.kentelastomer.com/polyvinyl-chloride-what-it-is-how-its-made/.

[2] “The Manufacture of Chlorine.” Chemistry LibreTexts, Libretexts, 30 June 2023, chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Inorganic_Chemistry/Supplemental_Modules_and_Websites_(Inorganic_Chemistry)/Descriptive_Chemistry/Elements_Organized_by_Block/2_p-Block_Elements/Group_17%3A_The_Halogens/Z017_Chemistry_of_Chlorine_(Z17)/The_Manufacture_of_Chlorine. 

[3] “Hydrogen Chloride.” Division of Toxicology ToxFAQs, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/tfacts173.pdf. Accessed 4 June 2024.

[4] “Ethylene: The ‘World’s Most Important Chemical.’” American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, 30 Apr. 2024, www.afpm.org/newsroom/blog/ethylene-worlds-most-important-chemical. 

[5] Ghanta, Madhav, et al. “Environmental impacts of ethylene production from diverse feedstocks and energy sources.” Applied Petrochemical Research, vol. 4, no. 2, 23 July 2013, pp. 167–179, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13203-013-0029-7. 

[6] “Fact Sheet: PVC and Dioxins.” PVCForum, https://www.ikem.se/globalassets/media-pvc-forum/pvc-dokument/faktablad/fact-sheet-pvc-and-dioxines_20190903.pdf. Accessed 4 June 2024.

[7] Elgharbawy, Abdallah. “Poly Vinyl Chloride Additives and Applications-a Review.” Journal of Risk Analysis and Crisis Response, 30 Sep. 2022, doi.org/10.54560/jracr.v12i3.335. 

[8] SyBridge Technologies. “Know Your Materials: Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS).” SyBridge Technologies, 28 Nov. 2023, sybridge.com/know-your-materials-acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene-abs/. 

[9] “Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Analysis of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) Resin.” American Chemistry Council, American Chemistry Council, 28 Dec. 2022, www.americanchemistry.com/better-policy-regulation/plastics/resources/cradle-to-gate-life-cycle-analysis-of-acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene-abs-resin. 

[10] “Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene Copolymer (ABS) : Eco-Profiles of the European Plastics Industry.” PlasticsEurope, Scribd, www.scribd.com/document/424892586/abs-311147f0-fabd-11da-974d-0800200c9a66. Accessed 4 June 2024.

[11] “How Blind Box Toys Making? Injection Molding of PVC.” SZRDDM, 6 Mar. 2023, szrddm.cn/blind-box-art-toys-making/. 

[12] “Safety and Fumes” Precious Plastic Toolbox, onearmy.github.io/academy/plastic/safety. Accessed 4 June 2024.

[13] “Pop Mart Blind Boxes and Collectible Figurines: How Vinyl Art Toys Make in China Toy Factory.” YouTube, RD Animation - Custom Figure Toys, 4 Nov. 2022, youtu.be/a7aMxZoxm0Q?si=0N2C8xufbVGoi4dY.

[14] “Meet Our Artists.” POP MART Official, www.popmart.com/us/ip-artist-zone. Accessed 4 June 2024.

[15] Esposito, Alicia. “Pop Mart Picks Los Angeles for Its Two Newest Stores.” Retail TouchPoints, 6 Feb. 2024, www.retailtouchpoints.com/topics/retail-store-design/pop-mart-picks-los-angeles-for-its-two-newest-stores. 

[16] The YouTube Culture & Trends Team. “Taking a Peek into the World of Unboxing on YouTube.” Blog.Youtube, YouTube Official Blog, 27 Nov. 2023, https://blog.youtube/culture-and-trends/unboxing-on-youtube/

[17] Diaz, Cinthya. “PVC Recycling: Complete Guide to Follow in California.” Recycle From Home, 30 June 2022, www.recyclefromhome.com/pvc-recycling-in-california/. 

[18] Emma, and Melina Spanoudi. “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Are 9% Lower in Mechanical than Chemical Recycling, Says Oeko-Institut.” Packaging Europe, 4 Oct. 2022, packagingeurope.com/news/greenhouse-gas-emissions-are-9-lower-in-mechanical-than-chemical-recycling-says-oeko-institut/8821.article. 

[19] Lewandowski, Krzysztof, and Katarzyna Skórczewska. “A Brief Review of Poly(Vinyl Chloride) (PVC) Recycling.” Polymers, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 27 July 2022, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9332854/. 

[20] “PVC Recycling.” Business Waste, www.businesswaste.co.uk/your-waste/plastic-recycling/pvc-recycling/. Accessed 4 June 2024.

[21] Kudzin, Marcin H, et al. “Risks Associated with the Presence of Polyvinyl Chloride in the Environment and Methods for Its Disposal and Utilization.” Materials (Basel, Switzerland), U.S. National Library of Medicine, 28 Dec. 2023, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10779931/.

[22] Ziani, Khaled, et al. “Microplastics: A Real Global Threat for Environment and Food Safety: A State of the Art Review.” Nutrients, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 25 Jan. 2023, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9920460/.

Emma Arntzen 

Christina Chung, Anna Zhang

Professor Cogdell

DES 40A

5 June 2024

Embodied Energy in the Product Life Cycle of SKULLPANDA Blind Box

Blind boxes have continued to grow in popularity and have become a hobby for many people to collect the various items found within them. While the objects found in these boxes tend to be small, they have a worrying effect on the environment. The issue with these boxes is that they encourage overconsumption and blind boxes tend to have additional packaging to hide the object. Multiple factors go into determining the energy used to create SKULLPANDA blind box items including the energy required to create the raw materials, to use those materials to create the product, and then to ship and fulfill orders for that product. SKULLPANDA is a popular blind box line from the company POP Mart that has multiple lines featuring different themes and characters. The nature of a blind box item can lead to overconsumption as a consumer buys a chance to get the product that they want rather than directly buying the product itself. 

While any one person can not solve global warming, it is important to be considerate of one’s personal decisions. For this reason, despite blind boxes having a small overall effect on the environment, it is important to evaluate how SKULLPANDA can have negative effects on our world. The main components of this product are PVC, ABS, and cardboard (POP Mart). This product is manufactured in China and uses the company Shenzhen R&D Animation Technology to create its products (SZRDDM, “Pop Mart and Vinyl Art Toy Factory…”). Even before the product is produced, energy goes into creating these plastics. Manufacturing plastic is an energy-intensive process that most often does not utilize renewable forms of energy (Marczak). It takes an estimated 53 megajoules per kilogram (mJ/kg) to produce PVC (Marczak). The other material that is used in this product is ABS. ABS has a higher energy cost of 95.34 mJ/kg (Boustead). The exact percentage of each of these materials used in the product is not specified so averaging the energy costs between these two materials results in approximately 74.17 mJ/kg. With the weight of this blind box being just over one kilogram, it can be estimated that this is roughly the amount of energy required to convert the raw material into usable plastic for the product (POP Mart). The process to create the cardboard for the packaging is estimated to take about 10.7 mJ (Yi, et al.). Overall, the process of creating usable plastic requires significant energy. 

After the materials have been sourced, the next step is to look at how energy is used in the manufacturing process. These figures are created using a process called injection molding (SZRDDM, “How Blind Box…”). Injection molding involves creating a mold and then injecting plastic into this mold (SZRDDM, “How Blind Box…”). While molds take energy to create, since they are reusable, they take minimal energy.​​ The amount of energy required in this process is dependent on many factors but I will use the much-simplified estimate of 1.47 kilowatt hours per kilogram (or 5.292 mJ/kg) (Elduque, et al.). Other factors that go into the energy required to manufacture a product include the energy to light the manufacturing facility, transfer materials, and efficiency of the machines (Owodunni). In addition to making the product, the product has to be packaged. 

Since SKULLPANDA products are purchased all over the world, the amount of energy that goes into shipping the product changes but I will specifically be considering the estimated amount of energy that is required to ship the product to the United States as the parent company Popmark is primarily established there. Since the product is manufactured in China, it requires to be transported either by ship or plane. Commercial products such as the SKULLPANA figures are typically shipped from China to the US via cargo ship (Andersen, et. al). The amount of energy and waste produced by shipping via sea or air is fairly similar but it does take more energy to ship via sea (Andersen, et. al). The round trip from China to the US takes approximately 6,048,000 mJ (Yeh, et. al.). While this number certainly is large, an important factor to consider is that many, many products get sent over on one ship so this energy is not representative of the energy required to ship just one figure. From there, products are typically shipped via truck to the location where the product will be sold. The product does have to travel a long distance from where the product is created to where it will be sold but it is also important to factor in the fact that the products are not shipped alone but with other products as well so this energy is not for only one item. Since the products are sold from many different places in the US, it is hard to determine the exact amount of energy required to finish the land leg of travel. To ship a product from China to the US stores takes a tremendous amount of energy but each of these trips does also ship a multitude of products so the amount of energy per item is lower. 

Once the product has been received, there is no energy required to maintain or use a SKULLPANDA figure. Many people chose to display or trade their figures. Possible energy consumption could come from using a light to display the figure but this is not required or necessarily commonly used by most consumers.  

The final element to consider is the energy required to recycle or dispose of the product. PVC and ABS are not very renewable materials but they can be recycled. In addition, the cardboard used to package SKULLPANDA products can be recycled. According to the EPA, recycled plastic only uses two-thirds of the energy that it would take to produce new plastic (“Environmental Factoids”). The process of recycling plastic includes receiving the plastic, shredding the plastic, melting the plastic, and then sorting the plastic (British Plastics Federation). It is a laborious process but it results in less energy than is required to synthesize new plastics and importantly instead of continuing to use up renewable resources, it is reusing products that we already have. While these plastics can be recycled, it is more likely that the products will end up in the landfill. Plastics can take 100-400 years to decompose (“Environmental Factoids”). The energy required to dispose of the product is an important factor to consider when evaluating the energy that goes into the lifecycle of a product. 

Blind boxes are a fun way to collect items but it is important to evaluate the environmental impact that this hobby can have on the environment. Blind boxes, just like many other commercial items, take a lot of energy to produce, ship, and recycle and function almost exclusively as decor. One of the most energy-consuming aspects of these blind boxes is that they are manufactured in China but are shipped all over the world. Shipping requires an immense amount of energy, especially since these items are often transported via ships. These items are certainly not the worst offenders of using immense amounts of energy but they still use a lot for a product that only serves as decor. To consider whether or not to purchase this item, suppose this is a product that you will like no matter which item you open and will value it for an extended period of time. In that case, this is a good product to consider but if you plan to throw away this product soon after receiving it or if you receive one you do not like/ a duplicate then this might not be the product for you. 

Bibliography

Andersen, Otto, et al. “CO2 emissions from the transport of China’s exported goods.” 

Energy Policy, vol. 38, no. 10, Oct. 2010, pp. 5790–5798, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2010.05.030. 

Boustead, I. Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene Copolymer (ABS), PlasticsEurope, Mar. 2005, www.inference.org.uk/sustainable/LCA/elcd/external_docs/abs_311147f0-fabd-11da-974d-0800200c9a66.pdf. 

British Plastics Federation. “How Is Plastic Recycled? A Step by Step Guide to Recycling.” British Plastics Federation,www.bpf.co.uk/plastipedia/sustainability/how-is-plastic-recycled-a-step-by-step-guide-to-recycling.aspx#stages. 

Elduque, Ana et al. “Electricity Consumption Estimation of the Polymer Material

Injection-Molding Manufacturing Process: Empirical Model and Application.” Materials (Basel, Switzerland) vol. 11,9 1740. 16 Sep. 2018, doi:10.3390/ma11091740.

“Environmental Factoids | Wastewise.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, archive.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/smm/wastewise/web/html/factoid.html. 

Marczak, Halina. "Energy Inputs on the Production of Plastic Products." Journal of 

Ecological Engineering, vol. 23, no. 9, 2022, pp. 146-156. doi:10.12911/22998993/151815.

Owodunni, Oladele. “Awareness of energy consumption in manufacturing processes.” 

Procedia Manufacturing, vol. 8, 2017, pp. 152–159, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2017.02.018. 

POP Mart. “Amazon.Com: Pop Mart SKULLPANDA Warmth Series.” Amazon.Com, www.amazon.com/pop-mart-SKULLPANDA-Collectible-Exclusive/dp/B0BG8Q5P8M. 

SZRDDM. “How Blind Box Toys Making? Injection Molding of PVC.” SZRDDM, 6 Mar. 2023, szrddm.cn/blind-box-art-toys-making/. 

SZRDDM. “Pop Mart and Vinyl Art Toy Factory, Art Toys Production.” SZRDDM, 16 Feb. 2023, szrddm.cn/pop-mart-vinyl-art-toy-factory/. 

Yeh, Chin-Ko, et al. “Real-time energy consumption and air pollution emission during the transpacific crossing of a Container Ship.” Scientific Reports, vol. 12, no. 1, 10 Sept. 2022, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-19605-7. 

Yi, Yi, et al. “Life cycle assessment of delivery packages in China.” Energy Procedia, vol. 105, May 2017, pp. 3711–3719, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2017.03.860. 

Anna, Zhang

Christina Chung, Emma Arntzen

DES 40A

Professor Cogdell

Pop Mart Blind Box Raw Materials Life Cycle 

The Blind box figure market has been skyrocketing in recent years, specifically led by the company POP MART which specializes in making a huge spectrum of high-quality blind box figures and has been extremely popular among teenagers. The manufacturing of Skull Panda’s blind boxes is a series of processes that starts from the design/vision, prototyping, coloring, assembling, and packaging design. Assembling and coloring specifically are complex processes that can vary from 20-100 steps depending on the design and different series require different molding prototypes. All these parts of manufacturing are quality-controlled to ensure unification and include different materials that are certified to be non-toxic. However, there are still environmental impacts on how raw materials used in figures like PVC are used. I will be delving into the life cycle of blind fox figures and discussing the role of raw materials in these processes.

Blind box figures are mainly made from PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) and ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) which is a type of thermoplastic. “Most plastic toys are made of Vinyl (otherwise known as Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)) - a plastic polymer and third largest selling thermoplastic after Polyethylene and Polypropylene.”( Rangaswamya). PVC is made from mainly synthetic processes and has very few raw materials which includes sodium chloride. “Sodium chloride (rock salt) is one of the raw materials used in the synthesis of PVC. As a result, only 43% of the polymer mass comes from petrochemical raw materials.”(Lewandowski). PVC comes in two basic forms: Rigid (sometimes abbreviated as RPVC) and flexible. It is the world's third-most widely produced synthetic plastic polymer, after PE and PP. while ABS is an opaque thermoplastic that has an amorphous polymer composed of three monomers, acrylonitrile, butadiene, and styrene. Thermoplastic refers to raw materials that need to be heated in order to soften and then cooled to harden which is extremely useful in the molding process of figures.

The manufacturing process of figures starts usually with 3d prototyping which is the transformation of a 2D sketch by designers into 3D. 3D prototyping can be usually separated into 2 main parts, body, and head. The heads are printed with a DLP Ultra Detail Resin, which is red, and main bodies with SLA Durable Resin, which is white. After 3d printing prototypes, Injection processes start and metal molds are used for thermoplastics due to the high-temperature requirement. To do this, there is an injection molding process where PVS and ABS are heated to fit the mold. “The solid plastic raw materials (PVC, ABS, etc.) are melted at high temperature and injected into the mold at a certain speed by the pressure of the injection machine, and the mold is cooled through the waterway so that the liquid plastic is cured, and the final product is the same rubber part as the designed mold cavity.” (SZRDDM). There is also another material referred to as “cold solid” which are liquid raw materials at room temperature that do not need addition of heating to be cured. Silicone molds are used for cold solids and PU resin, polystone (POLY resin), and other cold resins are also used in this process. Silicone molds are also commonly used to create a prototype sample before mass production to ensure all the designs are up to quality. A common resin used for high-quality and intricate designs is photosensitive resin. Photosensitive resins are composed of two major parts, namely photoinitiator and resin. Resin is composed of prepolymer, diluent, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur, etc. combined together with certain chemical bond. “The amount of photoinitiator and diluent has an important influence on the curing speed and curing quality of the photosensitive resin. When the proportion of photoinitiator and diluent is appropriate, not only the curing speed is fast, but the curing quality is also better.”(FACFOX). Injection molding is automated from putting in PVC raw materials to molding, so the production speed is fast and efficient for mass production. It also makes it possible to produce complicated and precise shapes/details. However, the cost of making an injection mold of a simple figure can cost around $5,000 which would increase in price with more details. There are around 1000-5000 pieces required for injection molds. After molding acrylic sprays are used for colors which are made of color pigments suspended in an acrylic polymer blend. There is also another method called blow molding which is less common but requires the same materials as injection molding and also involves the heating of PVC but is injected with air to fit the metal mold.

After manufacturing processes are done, there is the assembly of figures into their packaging which are usually small square boxes made out of cardboard and the figures themselves are wrapped in plastic packaging. Once packaged, they are sent directly to consumers through a process called Drop shipping which does not include inventory centers. They are sent to all over the world by planes, truck, etc. and all these processes include vehicle fuel and gas for transportation. Once the blind boxes are in the hands of consumers there is no maintenance or reusing that occurs as this is a decorative toy and doesn't have any other usage purposes. Overall the process of transportation and maintenance for blind boxes are fairly simple and unfortunately doesn't involve many other additions of raw materials.

The recycling process of blind box figures is usually done in two steps. The recycling of the packaging box and the figure toy itself. The packaging of blind boxes is made of cardboard which is usually recycled through collection, sorting, shredding and pulping, filtering, finishing, and converting back into reusable cardboard. The main chemical used in cardboard recycling is bleach which transforms the color of cardboard. After the packaging is recycled, the figures which are made of PVC are grinded into smaller pieces and cleaned. They can be then remelted and remolded to reuse into molds. However, lower-grade PVC has been shown to have toxicity levels due to the release of hydrochloric acid which was a major concern in the early stages of the blind box industry. “Higher Toxicity levels (perceived health hazards due to excess of heavy metals and phthalates-much more than permitted limits as shown in Table 2) as reported by various studies [3,23±25] were a major cause of concern in low-cost PVC toys”(Rangaswamy). PVC is usually recycled with other raw materials including sodium chloride, calcium chloride, and hydrocarbon products which are used to create new PVC materials. The most common way of recycling PVC is through a process called mechanical recycling which is when waste is produced inside the factory whether PVC is made in. This allows for preventing contamination and PVC to be recycled back into its original composition by adjusting its plasticizer proportion etc. “The most-recommended way to recycle PVC is mechanical recycling. The easiest way is to recycle the material directly in the production plant where the waste is generated. Such waste arises, for example, during the start-up and end of production and the mechanical processing of finished products or waste resulting from production errors. In such a case, with little effort the recycled material can be carefully selected so as not to lead to its contamination.”(Lewandowski). Similar to PVC is ABS which is also not as commonly used as fully recyclable and there have been many innovations made on the recycling of ABS through using solvents. “ a dissolution-precipitation process coupled with density separation was developed to extract acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) from toy waste using safer solvents and anti solvents. The polymer solubility of ABS was measured using Hansen solubility parameters, which were then used to down-select proper safer solvents and anti solvents. The acetone-water with a volumetric ratio of 3:1 was determined to be the most effective safer solvents and non solvents for extracting 81 wt.% of ABS at room temperature”(Lu). Unfortunately, there is not much information on the specificities of how blind box figures are recycled except for the packaging. However, it is more difficult to recycle PVC post-consumerism as mechanical recycling wouldn't work. It would require cleaning of the material and removing certain components or the addition of more plasticizers for it to be able to be in a usable form. However, this is very cost inefficient and is usually not done. And because mechanical recycling is done very minimally in factories only it makes post-consumerism recycling difficult. “Poly(vinyl chloride) is considered a polymer material with very limited mechanical recycling. This is due to the misconception of its low thermal stability and dangerous degradation products causing the increased corrosion of processing equipment and the alleged capacity as a threat to people.” (Lewandowski). So another type of recycling PVC in post-consumerism is feedback recycling, where energy is recovered by gasification of fuels or direct combustion in specialized thermal utilization plants. In feedback recycling, it allows PVC to be mixed in with other types of waste for reuse.

Overall the life cycle of POP MART’s blind box is a complicated process from design, to prototyping, gathering raw materials, and recycling/wastes. As POPMART and many many other companies are booming in the production of blind box figures I think that it's important to be aware of the processes involved in it as well as the complications with recycling PVC and the harms that it can have on our environment. Being more mindful of the creation process also allows consumers to be aware of the impacts of our consumer habits. By knowing more about the process of creating blind boxes, hopefully, in the future, there can be more innovations made on reducing contamination and making recycling more efficient.

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