This 3-D Printing Company Is Making Spare Parts to Fix Commonly Broken Toys This Holiday

The road to ecological purgatory is paved with limbless dolls and lonesome Legos, and haunted by the ghostly calls of Furbies you’ll never find. 

TBWAParis tells us over 2 billion toys are thrown out yearly … and as the holidays roll around, several billion more will be purchased. So, in keeping with a growing backlash against such flagrant waste, the agency has partnered with European 3-D printing leader Dagoma. 

Dagoma studied the most commonly lost or broken parts of best-selling toys over the past 40 years. Then, its 3-D designers recreated more than 100 spare parts that were never previously available. 

The result is Operation Toy Rescue, an inventory of missing board game pieces, Mr. Potato Head ears, and tiny Lego construction kit parts you never thought you’d see again. 

Operation Toy Rescue hopes to “give everyone the opportunity to repair an item” that may otherwise hit the landfill. Owners of 3-D printers can download a file for the part they need, and print it at no charge. They can also request files for parts that can’t be found. 

To boost eco-responsibility creds, Dagoma suggests printing spare parts using plant-based filaments. It’s also working on designing a filament made directly from plastic toys that are impossible to repair. The results can then be used to fix other toys. 

Of course, not everyone is likely to have a 3-D printer. Toy Rescue’s got that covered, too: A “Print for Others” option lets members of Dagoma’s Maker community play workshop elf, printing parts and sending them along.

It’s enough to make Santa look bad.

CREDITS

DAGOMA
Founders: Matthieu Régnier and Gauthier Vignon
Developers: Waël Abou Dahr, Romain Sommerard and Aurélien Gibaud
Communications Manager: Florent Vanhove 

TBWA PARIS
Executive Creative Directors: Faustin Claverie and Benjamin Marchal
Copywriters: Swann Richard and François Claux
Art Directors: François Claux and Swann Richard
Account Director: Matthéo Pressmar
Motion Design Editor: Nicolas Duval
Assistant Art Director: Pauline Huet

TBWA ELSE
3D Supervisor: Younes Chekouh
3D Designers: Clément Choblet and David Locard
Producer: Léa Gosselin
Assistant Producer: Lucile Waechter
Camera Operator: Coraline Benetti
Musical Art Director: Thomas Jacquet
Musical Producer: Fabrice Pouvreau
Composer: Baptiste Thiry

DAN PARIS
Senior Digital Art Director: Nicolas Barrès
Digital Production Director: Guilhem Vacher
Digital Project Manager: Juliette Gonzalez
Digital Art Director: Kimberley Aubert
Developers: Sidney Bourgalle and Kamal Zitouni