Page 56 - AVN August 2016

by KIMBERLAYNEPOUBELLE
Green Thrum
Q Toys is saving the planet one vibrator at a time
Recycling and sex toys: these two things
don’t always find themselves side by side.
But as world moves in greener directions
these days, one enterprising sex toy store
owner has embraced the philosophy of saving the
planet one vibrator at a time.
Stephanie Boggs, founder and owner of Q Toys
in Austin, Texas, began her sex toy recycling
program shortly after opening Q Toys in December
2012. She wanted to create a sex-positive,
education-based store that she herself would be
comfortable shopping in. “I didn’t want to see
the ‘novelties,’ lingerie and junky toys that clutter
most adult stores,” Stephanie stated. “I wanted
to create a more straightforward and less ‘wink
wink’ kind of experience. I wanted to create an
environment so that each and every person who
walked in the door would feel safe and appreciated,
regardless of their orientation, identity, or sexual
and erotic appetites.”
But creating a pleasant shopping experience
wasn’t the only goal for Q Toys. Stephanie also was
passionate about helping the environment.
“Thinking green and being environmentally
friendly, including active recycling, have always
been important practices for me so it was natural
to pursue recycling our main product at Q Toys—
sex toys—and it was pretty easy to figure out to do
it,” Boggs shared.
Recycling sex toys is not usually on the
manufacturing radar when creating toys, especially
in this day and age when different materials,
battery requirements and motors make pleasure
products much more technologically sophisticated
than, say, twenty years ago. The enterprising Boggs
decided to research the topic of sex toy recycling
on her own. She went to the web and within a few
short clicks found an appropriate recycler without
having to explain exactly what she was recycling.
And how did she do that?
“Honestly, I just emailed and called around until
I found a facility that was willing to work with
us. When I approached them with ‘This may be
a strange request, but would you consider taking
our used sex toys?’ they didn’t even react. They
immediately said, ‘No problem.’”
When asked what kinds of toys the customers
are turning in, Boggs chuckled. “We get a lot of
everything, really,” she said. “Broken, old vibrators,
silicone dildos that someone associates with an old
lover, things that were ordered online that turn out
not to be what the customer wanted, cheap crap
that people want out of their life, etc.”
When customers want to return a sex toy to Q
FEATURE
Toys for recycling, all they need to do is bag it up
and deposit it themselves into a bin in the back of
the store. Store employees do not handle the used
toys. As an incentive, Q Toys offers a $5 credit
56 | AVN.com | 8.16
With the small discount we give as an incentive for
each toy that is recycled, and the shipping costs each
month, we really just break even. It’s so important to us
that we’d do it even if it lost us a little bit of money.
—Stephanie Boggs, Q Toys
question what we do with the toys. Once we explain
the whole program, however, they get pretty excited.”
When asked if there are any financial gains for Q
Toys for recycling toys or is if it is done strictly for
environmental reasons, Boggs mentioned, “We bring
in a handful of new customers a month who want to
take advantage of the program. However, I’d say with
the small discount we give as an incentive for each toy
that is recycled, and the shipping costs each month, we
really just break even. It’s so important to us that we’d
do it even if it lost us a little bit of money. I have heard
some skeptical rumblings from other shops across the
country who, I think, may have tried recycling in the
past and haven’t had good results.”
She continued, “Some of our smaller vendors are
pretty excited about our recycling program, especially
the ones that have strong environmental policies of
their own. As for retailers who would like to start a
recycling program, I’d be happy to pass along the name
of the recycling facility to interested parties or I’m quite
certain there are other places out there willing to do
it. I would love for our program to be copied and even
improved upon in many, many more shops across the
country. My goal is for sex toy recycling to become
a standard and not anything that warrants any extra
attention.”
So start going green not only for the environment
but also to build a customer relationship from the first
purchase of a toy to the end of its lifespan. For more
information, visit QToysAustin.com or get in touch
with Stephanie Boggs via email at
stephanie@qtoysaustin.com.
toward any new toy for each one that’s recycled and
accepts up to four $5 credits for any one purchase.
Boggs explained, “The recycling bin fills up pretty
quickly, and we don our gloves to pack up and send a
big box of toys off to the facility about once a month.”
And despite what people think, she added, “The toys
we recycle are NOT being turned into new sex toys.
They are being turned into any number of products that
use post-consumer rubbers and plastics.”
One would think a facility that recycles sex toys
would be so highly specialized that it would be hard to
categorize, but when you break down the components
of sex toys, it’s basically electronics surrounded by
various materials: rubber (TPE, TPR, PVC), silicone,
vinyl, hard plastic (ABS), metal or glass. The recycling
facility that Boggs located, which is in Long Beach,
California, specializes not only in dismantling and
recycling electronics but also happens to recycle
children’s toys. Ultimately, the similarities are striking
between adult toys and children’s toys—both are
generally small, made with rubber or plastic, and often
have an electronic motor of some kind in them. The
company is experienced with disassembling electronics
and motors from plastics and rubbers and has
procedures in place to protect the people who come in
contact with bodily fluids on adult toys for recycling.
But actively promoting the recycling of sex toys
doesn’t end with sending off the bin to the recycler:
it can actually create a dedicated customer for the
store. When Boggs and the staff at Q Toys mention
the program, she explained, “Everyone has received it
positively. Some people are skeptical at first, or they