Page 30 - AVN Intimate fall 2016

FEATURE By KimBERlayne PoUBElle
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
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
toward any new toy for each one that’s recycled
30 | INTIMATE | FALL 2016
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
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
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.