Made to Last, Not to Waste

The words "eco-friendly toy" always make us pause.

Most toys are made of plastic: ABS, PVC, PP, PC, PE…… Plastic is affordable and can take almost any shape and color. But plastic does not always age well. Most of us have found an old toy at the back of a drawer, gone yellow and sticky. And once thrown away, plastic can stick around for a very long time.

Our apes are made of plastic too.

So we keep asking: how can an ape stay a toy for longer, and leave less waste behind?

We are working on it in four ways: the materials we choose, parts you can replace, a second life for apes with flaws, and packaging that wastes less.

Our first two mass-produced apes, Dot and 3x, are made of PVC and ABS. Both meet the toy safety standards that apply to them.

Our third ape, still in development, is meant to be an everyday companion. So we needed a material that could handle daily life and still feel safe in your hands. We laid the common plastics on the table, one by one. Tritan was the one that stayed.

You often find Tritan in water bottles and food containers. It contains no BPA, handles impact well, and stands up to water and everyday chemicals.

It was not an easy choice. Would it look like a food container? Could we give it the right feel? Very few figures are made of Tritan. It costs more and is harder to work with. But this ape is meant to come with you to work, on trips, and camping, rolling around in your bag next to a water bottle. For that, the extra work felt worth it.

None of our Nervape figures use glue in the body. For this ape, we found no UV glue that met our food-contact requirements, and we worried that sun and moisture would loosen glued joints over time. So, like 3x, it uses ultrasonic welding, which melts the parts together at the joint.

When a toy breaks, it often ends up in the trash. An arm snaps, or a joint gets loose. Everything else is fine, but there is no way to replace that one part.

We did not want that for our apes.

The arms and legs of 3x and this new ape are made to come off and be replaced one by one. If one breaks, you only need to change that part.

3x goes one step further. Inside its body are the sleeves that hold the arms and legs in place. Every time you pull a limb off and push it back, the sleeve wears a little, and over time the joint can get loose. So the sleeves can be replaced too. Take them out with the small tool in the box, or print a new one yourself. The design is open source.

One broken part should not mean losing the whole ape.

The shape of 3x is simple, with clean, smooth lines. That means even a small flaw has nowhere to hide.

At the factory, we watched rejected apes being smashed, one after another. The sound stayed with us. So we started saving some of the apes with surface flaws and giving them to artists and fellow creators.

In their hands, the marks that once got an ape rejected can become a kind of birthmark, part of the artwork. The ape becomes one of a kind, and gets a chance to stay.

We cannot save every one yet. So we are working on two things at once: making the process simpler so fewer flaws appear, and working with more creators to give these apes a home.

Packaging is easy to overlook. Most of it is thrown away the moment the box is opened.

Our boxes use FSC-certified paper, which means the source of the wood is checked and can be traced. With each new version, we try to make the structure lighter and simpler.

To be honest, we cannot go fully plastic-free yet. Each ape still comes in a protective bag, and we keep looking for materials that are easier on the environment.

Too little packaging, and the ape may get hurt on the way. Too much, and you are left with a pile of trash. We are still looking for the right balance.

You might say: if you really care about the planet, why make toys at all? Toys are not a necessity.

That is true.

But joy matters. So does company.

An ape on your desk might sit with you through a long night. An ape taken apart and rebuilt might be where someone first starts making things with their hands.

We cannot make toys a necessity. But we can try to make them worth keeping.

We are not there yet. With every new ape, we try to get a little closer.

Fun to play with. Safe in your hands. A little less waste.