Hi, I'm Emily. I'm a mom and a textile designer who owns a small design practice called Haptic Lab. While researching materials for a new stuffed toy project, I stumbled across an ugly truth about stuffed toy regulations in the US. 

My young daughter owns dozens of stuffed animals, and every single one is labeled with a tag that starts "REG. NO. PA". This is a registration number from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that dictates stuffed toys must be made with "all new material content". This arcane law, passed by the Pennsylvania state legislature back in 1961, ensures almost every stuffed toy sold in the US is made with virgin polyester derived from the fossil fuel industry. A recent industry report states that over 1.3 billion plush toys are sold in the US annually; almost all of these toys are made of new plastics because of the Pennsylvania law. 

Recycled alternatives exist and are already widely used today. You've undoubtedly noticed recent ads for things like bags and clothing declaring "This product was made using recycled plastic bottles!" Recycled polyester, or rPET, is a material sourced from plastic bottles that would otherwise enter the waste stream.  Patagonia was using rPET for clothing back in 1993, and the material is approved for use in European stuffed toys. 

Eco-friendly stuffed toys made from recycled polyester are already being sold domestically at big box stores and through e-commerce giants like Amazon. And it's illegal for you to buy ANY of these toys if you're located in Pennsylvania. 

rPET isn't perfect. But plastic lasts a LONG time, so it makes sense to use the materials we have on hand while reducing our emissions and energy inputs as much as possible. rPET is a great option for stuffed toys until novel materials like PLA fiber become more widely available, and our waste management systems are updated to include industrial composting.

Our petition seeks to formally add rPET to the list of explicitly allowed fill materials under PA's Department of Labor & Industry Division of Bedding and Upholstery requirements, or to repeal the section of the Pennsylvania law as it applies to stuffed toys. The state of Maine repealed a similar law back in July 2001. Let's bring Pennsylvania with us into the 21st Century by updating a 61 year old law that does nothing but create more plastic waste.