It is surprising that none of the domestic retail action figure producers have stood up and said they are going to create less waste. In fact, over the last decade we've seen more materials going in to the packaging than ever before. In the struggle to win the consumers' hard-earned cash, almost every mass market toy company has offered very complicated packages that include multiple layers of printed cardboard and non-recyclable plastic, not to mention more little rubber elastics and twist ties than you can shake a stick at. Even though the packages these days look great, and one has to marvel over their design, ultimately it is nothing more than trash that will sit forever in landfills all over the planet. Some of the high end companies have taken us in the right direction by creating packaging that is intended to be saved, that uses less plastic and no twist ties or rubber bands. In fact, most of the products from companies like Sideshow Collectibles and Hot Toys don't even have tape on them! Moving into 2010, lets hope a responsible company like Hasbro, who has a long history of listening to their customers, will very publicly address this waste and vow to create packages that consider the environment, and challenge all the other toy companies to follow their lead. Think this is exaggerated? When you photograph as many toys as we do, you learn very quickly that the action figure industry creates far too much waste.