Toys that move, make noise, and light up are winding up in landfills — but they could be recycled, with better policies.
Why it matters: According to a recent report by the WEEE Forum, a multinational nonprofit organization focused on the management of “waste electrical and electronic equipment,” the world threw out more than 7 billion e-toys in 2022. Many, if not most, of these toys didn’t reach a proper e-waste recycling facility due to a dearth of regulations and consumer awareness that toys containing batteries and circuit boards require special disposal.
More insight: Experts believe these toys are often winding up in the regular trash, increasing the risk of battery fires at waste management facilities and creating new environmental hazards at landfills. Even when people want to recycle their e-toys properly, recyclers might not want to take them because they are hard to deconstruct and often contain very little material worth recycling.
With the holiday season fast approaching, parents around the world are deciding which new toys to purchase for their kids this year. Many will opt for classic favorites like Lego bricks, Mr. Potato Heads, Jenga sets, and Barbie dolls. Others will choose toys with more high-tech flair — like remote-controlled robotic dogs, light-up drones, or books that play animal sounds — for that tot who loves smashing buttons.
But while modern parents are bombarded with ads for toys that light up, make sounds, move under their own power, and respond to voice commands, they don’t hear much about the environmental crisis fueled by electronic toys, or e-toys.
According to a recent report by the WEEE Forum, a multinational nonprofit organization focused on the management of “waste electrical and electronic equipment,” the world threw out more than 7 billion e-toys in 2022. Many, if not most, of these toys didn’t reach a proper e-waste recycling facility due to a dearth of regulations and consumer awareness that toys containing batteries and circuit boards require special disposal. Instead, experts believe these toys are often winding up in the regular trash, increasing the risk of battery fires at waste management facilities and creating new environmental hazards at landfills. Even when people want to recycle their e-toys properly, recyclers might not want to take them because they are hard to deconstruct and often contain very little material worth recycling.
Ultimately, experts say, toy makers and toy retailers must take more responsibility for e-toy waste — whether that’s by setting up take-back programs for broken e-toys, redesigning toys to be more recycling friendly, or embracing new business models that replace cheap, throwaway toys with stuff that’s built to last.
There’s no doubt our appetite for electronic toys is growing: Revenue from wholesale shipments of e-toys into the United States increased nearly 200 percent between 2010 and 2022, according to data from the Consumer Technology Association. Yet as e-toys proliferate, we seem to be valuing them less. In recent years, “toys have gone from being viewed more as essential tools to childhood development to junk you get at the holidays,” said Krystal Persaud, an award-winning toy designer and the cofounder of Wildgrid, an educational marketplace that uses game-like principles to help consumers learn how to implement home electrification projects. “Which is very unfortunate.” (Persaud was selected as a Grist 50 Fixer in 2023.)
An aisle in the toys department is seen at a Target store on Oct. 25, 2021 in Houston, Texas.
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Indeed, the pressure toy makers feel to make sales — particularly during the holiday season, when they earn a large chunk of their annual revenue — motivates them to constantly churn out new toys. Persaud described it as “very analogous to fast fashion.”
“It’s very trend driven,” she told Grist.
One of the ways a toy maker can stay trendy is by giving their toys new capabilities with embedded electronics. According to Persaud, the cost of manufacturing electronic components like circuit boards has fallen so much in the last several decades that it’s now relatively easy to incorporate them into the simplest and cheapest of toys, which is how parents end up with plastic trucks that bark sounds and flash lights.
The problem with cheap electronic toys is that they aren’t necessarily built to last, be repaired, or even have their batteries removed and replaced. As a result, many e-toys will inevitably become junk in somebody’s basement or garage until it’s time to get rid of them. At that point, e-toys “are going to end up most likely in the municipal solid waste system rather than the recycling stream,” said Callie Babbitt, a e-waste researcher at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York.
That’s a problem both for safety and environmental reasons. E-toys with lithium-ion batteries can spark a fire if the battery is mishandled, crushed or punctured at a waste management facility. Once they enter landfills, electronics create additional hazards because some of their components contain toxic substances like lead, mercury, and cadmium that can leach into the surrounding soil and water, endangering the health of nearby communities and ecosystems.
The reason dead e-toys aren’t getting to the right place, Babbitt says, has to do with e-waste regulations. In the U.S., there’s no overarching federal guidance on how to manage e-waste, which is instead regulated through a patchwork of state policies. In roughly half of U.S. states, the policy is no policy at all. Most of the other states have some sort of “extended producer responsibility” scheme that requires electronic device manufacturers to pay funds into a program administered by state or local officials or private entities. Those funds go toward collecting specific electronics on a state collection list and sending them to e-waste recyclers. Not a single state collection list includes e-toys. “They’re not traditionally part of that system,” Babbitt said.
In many cases, consumers can still drop off e-toys at e-waste collection sites. But Babbitt says that “most of the effort toward actually communicating about recycling” is geared toward items on the state list, meaning consumer awareness about how to recycle e-toys is relatively low. And in some states, like Minnesota, consumers might have to pay a collection facility to take their junk toys, according to Maria Jensen, who co-directs a Minnesota-based nonprofit called Recycling Electronics for Climate Action that advocates for stronger e-waste recycling policies.
Often, county governments — which run many of Minnesota’s e-waste collection sites — “are not supported well enough to afford to collect and send those to a recycler,” Jensen told Grist. “So what happens is they charge the consumer.” While about a quarter of the e-waste Minnesotans generate is collected for recycling, Jensen speculates that the amount of e-toy waste collected is much lower.
Outside of the U.S., different countries have very different e-waste policies. But when it comes to e-toys, a similar pattern emerges globally: These devices are not reaching recyclers. While between 20 and 30 percent of large electronics like TVs and printers are recycled on a global scale, the global recycling rate for e-toys is closer to 10 percent, said Kees Baldé, a senior researcher at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. Baldé co-authored the recent WEEE Forum report that identified e-toys as the largest contributor to “invisible” e-waste, a category that included 9 million tons of electronics last year.
Invisible e-waste, which the report authors defined as types of e-waste with a very low recycling rate based on national data, also includes vapes, headphones, home smoke detectors, and other small consumer electronics. “Basically people don’t really know what to do” with e-toys and other forms of invisible e-waste, Baldé told Grist.
Worldwide, Baldé says, these products are only sometimes covered by extended producer responsibility schemes. Because they are often made of cheap materials like plastic with only small amounts of the precious metals that e-waste recyclers make money recovering and selling, recyclers tend to lose money processing them. “The treatment of e-waste, in particular this type of e-waste, is worthless,” Balde said.
The way e-toys are designed creates additional challenges for recyclers. Whereas TVs and computers tend to follow similar design principles and include similar components, toys come in a huge variety of sizes and form factors that recyclers may not be familiar with, meaning additional time and effort must be spent figuring out how to take them apart. What’s more, many are not built to be disassembled. More than a nuisance, this can be a hazard for recyclers, who may not be aware that a toy with no screws, charge ports, or obvious external labels contains a lithium-ion battery.
Versions of Sony's puppy-sized robot dog "Aibo", including a 2019 limited special colour model (front), are displayed during a press conference at the company's headquarters in Tokyo on Jan. 23, 2019.
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Frequently, e-toy batteries are “completely encased in plastic,” Jensen said. “So you actually have to break it open, physically, to get the battery out.” Otherwise, that battery could accidentally enter a recycler’s shredder and spark a fire.
To solve the e-toy waste crisis, experts say that regulators and the toy industry need to step up. Governments could expand their extended producer responsibility schemes to include more categories of electronics, such as e-toys. While this wouldn’t address design issues, it would provide the municipalities, nonprofits, or private businesses that collect e-waste much-needed funding to get these items to a recycler that can handle them. Toy manufacturers, or big box retailers like Walmart and Target, could serve as collection points for old e-toys, similar to how Best Buy stores collect a variety of consumer electronics and appliances for recycling. Persaud, the toy designer, suspects that retailers setting up e-toy take-back programs “would be the fastest” way to start collecting dead toys en masse.
The Toy Association, an industry group whose members account for 93 percent of toy and game sales in the U.S., didn’t respond to Grist’s request for comment.
In the longer term, design standards focused on longevity and repairability could slow the tide of waste by ensuring e-toys are built to last longer. The European Union recently adopted a new regulation that requires manufacturers of portable electronics to make their products’ batteries removable — an important first step. Baldé wants to see the bloc go much further. “We need more policy interventions to simply ban these products that don’t have a minimum guaranteed lifespan or can’t be repaired,” he said.
Finally, we all need to reframe our relationship with toys and stop treating them as disposable. While consumers can’t solve this problem alone, we can all be more mindful about the type and quantity of toys we buy. Parents, Persaud suggests, can ask friends and family for the type of toys they want their children to receive, perhaps requesting e-toys only when the electronics give the toy “a superpower that wasn’t there before.” Or they can stick to secondhand, analog, or even homemade toys made of highly recyclable materials like wood.
Persaud emphasized that kids, especially young children, don’t need their toys to have interactive buttons and light-up features in order to have fun with them. “There’s a lot of things you can do without [the toy] being electronic,” Persaud said. “Just with blocks, with paper. You can really play with anything.”
Erin Stone
is a reporter who covers climate and environmental issues in Southern California.
Published February 2, 2026 3:57 PM
Water companies that serve Altadena lost thousands of customers in the Eaton Fire.
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Topline:
Water companies that serve much of Altadena are expected to hold public meetings this week to discuss how they’ll rebuild and stay in business after the Eaton Fire reduced many of their customers’ homes to ash. Two out of the three mutual water companies in the area are holding public meetings this week to discuss raising rates.
The background: Last year’s fires not only destroyed homes and businesses, but also critical infrastructure, such as water delivery systems. Rebuilding that infrastructure is particularly challenging in unincorporated areas such as Altadena, which is primarily served by three tiny, private water companies — Las Flores (more on their situation here), Rubio Cañon and Lincoln Avenue water companies. Unlike public utilities, these private, not-for-profit companies have less access to state and federal funding resources to rebuild, so customers are likely going to have to foot much of the bill. Customers of these companies are actually co-owners, called shareholders. Each is governed by its own set of bylaws.
Complications: All of Altadena’s water agencies have sued Southern California Edison, accusing it of responsibility for the Eaton Fire, but the result and timeline of such lawsuits remain uncertain. In turn, Edison has sued the water companies (among others), claiming they didn’t provide enough water for firefighters during the fire.
Rubio Cañon Land and Water Association: Rubio Cañon Land and Water Association served about 9,600 people in Altadena but, after the Eaton Fire, about 30% of that customer base is now made up of empty lots. While insurance is covering much of the most critical infrastructure repairs, the company faces a $1.95 million revenue shortfall.
Its proposal: To close the budget gap, the company is proposing an 11% rate hike, plus a “fire recovery charge” between $10 and $30 a month.
What about merging with other water companies? While Lincoln and Las Flores water companies have submitted paperwork to the state to study consolidation, Rubio Cañon has rejected being part of the effort. “Such consolidation could trigger a 7-12 year state process and significant shareholder costs, as Altadena is not classified as a disadvantaged community to qualify for the full menu of state resources,” the company wrote in its update ahead of this week’s meeting, calling such consolidation discussions “premature” and “unproductive.”
Upcoming board meeting: The board will hear from the public about the proposal at a meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Altadena Community Center. Attendees will have to prove they're a customer. More details here.
Lincoln Avenue Water Company: Lincoln Avenue served more than 16,000 people in Altadena before the Eaton Fire. Now, about 58% of its customers and revenue are gone. Although the company says it has sufficient reserves and is not facing bankruptcy in the near term, it has decided to raise water bills by $15 a month for existing customers. To improve its long term resilience, the company is also considering merging with Las Flores water company, but that will take time.
Upcoming board meetings: The board will discuss the rate hike at a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Loma Alta Park Community Room. The meeting is open to shareholders only.
Destiny Torres
is LAist's general assignment and digital equity reporter.
Published February 2, 2026 3:24 PM
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan begin Friday, and eight athletes have roots in Southern California.
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Topline:
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan begin Friday and eight athletes have roots in Southern California, including Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Read on … for a full rundown on the SoCal’s Olympic athletes.
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan begin Friday and eight athletes have roots in Southern California, including Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Team USA’s 232-member roster includes 21 athletes from California. The Winter Games begin Feb. 6 and end on Feb. 22.
What about the 2026 Paralympics? The Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympics will start on March 6 and run through March 15. Not all qualifying athletes have been announced yet.
You can watch the games starting Friday on NBC and streaming on Peacock.
Keep up with LAist.
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Jordan Rynning
holds local government accountable, covering city halls, law enforcement and other powerful institutions.
Published February 2, 2026 3:21 PM
The LAPD deployed munitions and mounted units.
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Topline:
A federal judge banned LAPD from using 40mm projectiles at protests last month, but researcher Scott Reynhout of the nonprofit Physicians for Human Rights says the department still utilizes other crowd control weapons that can be just as dangerous — if not more so.
Why it matters: Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies have used thousands of crowd control weapons against protesters in L.A. since June 2025, when federal immigration raids began escalating tensions in the region. Many people who were never accused of breaking the law have still been struck by what are known as “less-lethal” crowd-control weapons, including rubber bullets, tear gas and flash bang grenades.
The most dangerous crowd control weapons: The LAPD uses a 37mm launcher that is inherently risky, Reynhout said. Even though the 37mm rubber bullets are smaller than the 40mm projectiles the LAPD was banned from using at protests, they are more likely to hit sensitive areas like the face and neck because they fire multiple projectiles in each shell.
Read on... for more on the crowd control weapons used by local law enforcement agencies.
Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies have reported using thousands of crowd control munitions against protesters in L.A. since June 2025, when federal immigration sweeps began escalating tensions in the region.
Many people who were never accused of breaking the law nonetheless have been struck by what are known as “less-lethal” crowd control weapons, including rubber bullets, tear gas and flash bang grenades.
While a federal judge banned the LAPD from using 40mm projectiles at protests last month, the department still uses other crowd control weapons. According to Scott Reynhout, who researches these weapons for Physicians for Human Rights, a nonpartisan nonprofit, some of these weapons can be just as dangerous as the banned projectiles — if not more so.
LAist spoke with Reynhout to better understand what they do and how people protesting lawfully can protect themselves.
Reynhout said it's very important that people pay attention if law enforcement declares an unlawful assembly, which they are required to do before using crowd control weapons in most cases.
“ If the police have declared an illegal assembly, it would behoove you to take steps to isolate yourself from that particular situation,” Reynhout said. “If that is not possible for you, for whatever reason — say, you live in the particular area where you are — then you could consider [protecting] yourself from chemical irritants or potentially from impact projectiles.”
Some of the most dangerous crowd control weapons used in L.A.
Physicians for Human Rights’ international study, Lethal in Disguise, found weapons that fire multiple projectiles at once were “far and away the most dangerous” type of crowd control weapons.
"82% of all the recorded injuries in the medical literature that came from impact projectiles were from ... multiple projectile impact projectiles,” Reynhout told LAist. “And 96% of all the ocular injuries from impact projectiles were from these multiple projectile impact projectiles."
He said the LAPD is the only police department in the U.S. he is aware of that uses this type of weapon. The department uses a 37mm less-lethal launcher (LLM) that shoots five rubber bullets with each shell.
According to reports required by Assembly Bill 48, the department used more than 600 of these shells — that’s over 3,000 projectiles — against anti-ICE protesters last June. They have continued to report using the 37mm launcher, most recently to disperse crowds after the Dodgers World Series win on Nov. 2, according to AB 48 reports.
The 37mm launcher is inherently risky, Reynhout said. Even though the 37mm rubber bullets are smaller than the 40mm projectiles the LAPD was banned from using at protests, they are more likely to hit sensitive areas like the face and neck.
The use of multiple projectiles causes the 37mm projectiles to scatter in a cone shape once they leave the launcher, making them much more difficult to control than a single projectile. He said LAPD’s policy of “skip firing,” which means officers are instructed to aim 5 to 10 feet in front of the person they are shooting at, also adds randomness.
A diagram showing LAPD's policy of "skip firing" the 37mm less-lethal launcher at targets.
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LAPD Use of Force Directive
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“ The real risk behind these multi-shot impact projectiles,” he said, “is that you just really don't have any control over where these bullets go in the end.”
Reynhout said people standing beside or behind the intended target could very easily get hit, which he believes was likely the case when Australian reporter Lauren Tomasi was struck in the leg by a rubber bullet in June.
[Note: LAist correspondent Adolfo Guzman-Lopez was struck in the throat by a projectile at a 2020 protest. Long Beach police later said they believed that injury was caused by a ricochet of a foam round.]
LAist reached out to LAPD for comment on their use of the 37mm launcher, but the department did not respond.
Another type of crowd control weapon found to be especially dangerous is the use of beanbag rounds, usually fired from a 12-gauge shotgun. These rounds fire small lead pellets sealed in a fabric bag.
Reynhout said the use of these rounds can be “horrific” and leave people with life-threatening injuries.
According to LAPD policy, beanbag rounds are not allowed to be used for crowd control, but other agencies have used them. The California Highway Patrol reported using beanbag rounds against anti-ICE protesters last June.
If you find yourself in a situation where projectiles are being deployed, Reynhout advises focusing on protecting your face and eyes. That’s where the most serious injuries occur.
Reynhout said ballistic eyewear that meets military standards (MIL-PRF-32432) could offer protection against some of the most severe injuries.
He said the 40mm or 37mm projectiles can be similar to getting hit by a golf ball by someone swinging just 6 feet away, and while things like bike helmets, paintball masks, hockey masks or even soft body armor might help to some degree, they aren’t designed to protect someone from that kind of impact.
What you may most likely be affected by: Chemical agents
Chemical agents like tear gas and pepper spray are crowd control weapons that saturate an area and affect everyone in it, Reynhout told LAist, and that includes people who may not even be part of a demonstration.
He said you should be especially aware of these weapons being used near you if you have asthma or any airway or respiratory system issues because they can provoke severe reactions in some cases.
In their report, Reynhout and other researchers found that children and older people are also at risk of severe reactions, which could be life-threatening.
There is gear on the market to mitigate those risks, including sealed safety goggles and respirators (N-, P- or R-100). If you find yourself exposed to a chemical irritant like tear gas or pepper spray, Reynhout said there is nothing shown to be more effective than flushing the area for 10 to 15 minutes with saline solution.
The saline solution should ideally be sterile and at body temperature, he told LAist, but plain water also works if that is what you have available. The important thing is that you continue to flush the area and dilute the chemicals.
For skin or clothing, Reynhout said dilution with water is still the key, but you can use some Dawn dish soap to help wash away pepper spray.
Other dangers
California law enforcement officers have also used flash bang grenades in response to protests since June. The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol together used more than 300 aerial flash bang grenades on June 8, according to AB 48 reports. Those are crowd control munitions shot out of 40mm launchers that explode mid-air and create 170 dB of sound and 5 million candelas of light.
LAist asked the LAPD about their policy on using flash bang grenades for crowd control, but the department did not respond. The LAPD has not listed any uses of flash bang grenades in their AB 48 reports dating back to April 2024.
Aside from these, there are a number of other crowd control weapons and devices that are used by law enforcement agencies in the L.A. area: grenades that explode to release small rubber balls, pepper balls, batons or — unique to the LAPD — officers on horseback using wooden practice swords called “bokken.”
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Reynhout said deciding how much protection you might choose to take with you to a protest is very personal. Some bulkier items might restrict your movement, cause you to overheat or impede your ability to maintain situational awareness, so it is important to consider what risks you may face and use your best judgement.
Sometimes, he said, that best judgment might be to walk away from the situation.
Replay: LA Mayor Karen Bass deliver annual address
Libby Rainey
is a general assignment reporter. She covers the news that shapes Los Angeles and how people change the city in return.
Published February 2, 2026 3:07 PM
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass delivers her 2026 State of the City address.
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Topline:
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass laid out her vision for Los Angeles at her first of two "State of the City" addresses Monday afternoon at Exposition Park. The speech, which comes as her race for re-election ramps up, was framed as a celebration of the coming World Cup.
Why now: Bass made the remarks at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, which will host a FIFA Fan Festival June 11-15 to coincide with the start of the tournament.
Read on... for what what she said in the annual "State of the City" address.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass laid out her vision for Los Angeles at her first of two "State of the City" addresses Monday afternoon at Exposition Park.
"Let's show the nation and the world we are the greatest city on earth," Bass told the crowd outside the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.
But the mayor moved quickly from announcing that there would be more than 100 free watch parties for the tournament into a retrospective of L.A.'s terrible 2025 — from the January fires to the immigration agents that descended on the city in June and haven't left.
"Raids continue every day in Los Angeles and with them have come the devastating losses of life," she said, naming Renee Good, Alex Pretti and Keith Porter Jr., who was shot by an off-duty ICE agent in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve. " This senseless death, lawlessness and violence must end and so must the presence of ICE in Los Angeles."
Bass described local leaders as the last line of defense against the actions of the federal government.
L.A.’s fire recovery
She also discussed the ongoing recovery of Pacific Palisades, where she has faced substantial criticism for the city's response to the fire and first year of rebuilding, which some residents say has been too slow.
" We've brought in new leadership to overhaul fire preparedness and emergency response," Bass said, referencing her decision to remove former fire chief Kristin Crowley. "And yes, we're fighting the next battle: holding financial institutions and the insurance industry from abandoning Los Angeles because recovery should never feel harder than the disaster itself."
Bass said 400 homes lost to the fire are currently under construction, and that she would travel to Sacramento next week with Councilmember Traci Park and Pacific Palisades residents to push for more state funding for recovery. The Palisades Fire destroyed nearly 7,000 homes and killed 12 people.
The mayor's response to the Palisades Fire is a key issue in her race for re-election. Two of Bass's challengers, former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner and influencer Spencer Pratt, had their homes damaged or destroyed in the disaster.
Housing and homelessness
Bass then laid out her efforts around housing and homelessness, pointing to an affordability crisis that makes staying in stable housing, or buying a first home, out of reach for many Angelenos.
"The greatest test of L.A. is whether people can actually afford to live here year across Los Angeles," the mayor said in her address. "Too many neighbors are packing multiple families into one apartment are working two and three jobs just to stay housed."
Bass then turned to homelessness, doubling down on her commitment to her signature "Inside Safe" program, which aims to move people off the streets and into interim housing. She said that the city had cleared nearly 120 encampments.
Bass focused on the fight to end homelessness for veterans in Los Angeles — a focus she said was interrupted by the 2025 fires. She said the city had issued 600 housing vouchers for veterans since last year.
She ended the speech where she started — talking about the city's role as host of the World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games.
" We will continue to focus on the fundamentals, the things that shape how a city feels to the people who live here and the millions who will visit," she said.
