Whether black or pink with sequins, our sex toys punctuate part of our nights alone or with others. However, if their success is no longer debated, their recycling is much less developed. An unthought on which some brands are beginning to reflect.
If it is possible to recycle your old coffee machine or your telephone, recycling your dildos or geisha balls remains complicated. However, classified in the “small electrical appliance” category, they should therefore, in theory, be able to be recycled in the same way as an electric kettle. In theory only. Because in practice, wanting to combine ecology and sex toys is not easy.
Within the Darty group, for example, the issue of recycling sex toys is uncomfortable. “ We are not going to check what you put in the recycling terminals “says the communication department before emphasizing that, “ in any case, what I can tell you with certainty is that we do not take them back for the second-hand market in Darty.That, we suspected a little. It is also possible to go to a recycling center near your home to hope to give your favorite toy a second life.
In the supermarket, but not in recycling
This unthought of recycling is largely explained by the image, still sulphurous, that sex toys can have. And this even if the sexshops have been replaced by love blinds and that it is even possible to buy some dildos at Monoprix, since 2015.
To date, while toys can be found quite easily, for the time being, only one company seems to have started collecting dildos and vibrating ducks in its stores: Passage du Désir, in partnership with ecosystem. Since 2019, it has allowed certain sex toys to become garden furniture or bumpers. In an Instagram post, the company explains where and how to bring back its little duck. ” We had a lot of trouble mounting this device says Patrick Pruvot, founding president of the group. “ We had to plead to set up this sector and we had to demonstrate that a vibrator could be assimilated to small household appliances..”
If the recycling of sex toys is already not very developed, apart from vibrators, the recycling of our toys without a motor is currently not possible. Or else… In another way. For your silicone dildos, you can give them a second life by transforming them into decorative objects, for example by transforming them into a lamp or a coat rack.
It is also impossible to put a glass dildo with the beer bottles in the recycling bin. Zuki, the author of the blog Gode Save the Queen explains that the glass used is borosilicate. This one is designed to be heated, but also to last. This type of glass is resistant to all shocks and all orgasms, but does not recycle. On the other hand, its manufacture is perhaps less polluting than for a silicone dildo.
A slow realization
On the brand side too, awareness is timid. Eco-friendly sex toys are starting to appear, even if it remains a niche market. Blush’s Gaya sex toy is one of the first made from recycled and biodegradable materials. His price ? About fifteen euros. Womanizer has also launched a biodegradable version of its favorite sex toy, but for 189 euros. Made from natural materials like corn starch, they can be easily recycled. Once the battery and circuit board have been removed, these sex toys can be placed in the sorting bin.
Ohhcean has also launched a range made from plastic waste recovered from the oceans, for a price range ranging from 45 to 80 euros. Another possibility is to turn to durable sex toys made of stone, stainless steel or wood. Bobtoys has made it its specialty. Made-to-measure or customizable, the Vosges-based company manufactures only wooden dildos with promising names.
Finally, last advice to combine ecology and pleasure: take good quality toys, which will last over time. Because, “itUnlike children’s toys, adult toys do not have their own manufacturing legislation and the materials used may vary from product to product. », Underlines Alicia, founder of the feminist sexshop Lytta in Marseille. “ Depending on the quality of the silicone, this can already be dangerous for your health, but in addition these poor quality sex toys do not last over time and are not recyclable.»
If financially possible for you, opt for quality geisha balls. Your mucous membranes will thank you and the planet too: every year the erotic toy industry represents 108,000 tons of plastic produced, of which only a tiny part is recyclable.
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