I created the world’s first sex toy range made from ocean-bound plastic – here’s why

The sex toy industry is notoriously linked to plastic waste – but the climate crisis is quickly becoming part of the agenda, writes Mathilde Mackowski

What stood out for us as an immediate environmental crisis was the ocean plastics emergency (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The mission is still the same: to encourage play and equip a playful sex life. Only now, like many entrepreneurs, it’s crucial we think about the impact our mission has on the environment and how it can help to create positive change.

Keeping a playful spirit has always been a central theme in my life. The sex toy industry turned out to be the ideal place where pleasure and play came together. I’ve always felt that people rush into adulthood and can become so serious about everything. We forget to take time to play, and to enjoy being present in the moment. That’s why sex toys are so brilliant. They encourage us to be curious, to be playful and to discover. It was, and still is, the place where my instinctive need to create joy and playfulness gets brought to life.

Getting into the sex toy industry 14 years ago, it never really felt like a “why” but more of a “why not”. I learned a lot about people and consumers from the real estate and marketing industries I worked in previously, in terms of what people want and need and what motivates them. Understanding these needs has given me the tools to create Sinful, an award-winning online sex toy business, and now ohhcean, the world’s first sex toy range made with ocean-bound plastic, that encourage a more playful lifestyle.

From the moment you start production, you think about the impact. Or at least we did. You have the positive economic impact of creating workplaces for people, and then, of course, there’s the inevitability of production using resources. We know, at least, that sex toys are very personal. And so, once you find the perfect toy for you, it stays with you for a long time. Sex toys are not a trend, and they never go out of style.

Still, the sex toy industry is notoriously linked to plastic waste. And, like many other industries, the climate crisis is, or is quickly becoming, part of the agenda.

For us at Sinful, we are developing a thorough report on the impact of our business conduct in cooperation with The Footprint Firm and Global CSR to map out every step of our supply chain. We are doing this to learn exactly where, how, and what we can do differently.

What stood out for us as an immediate environmental crisis was the ocean plastics emergency. For how widely this topic has been reported on, we were very surprised that no one in the sex toy industry was using their business to act on it. Ohhcean is the culmination of frustration, impatience, and the determination to believe anything is possible. It was borne of the urge to think in new ways and to see things from a different perspective. It is a tribute to playfulness, to fun, and to the possibility of creating change.

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When you’re the first to do something, patience is a virtue. You are the one taking on all of the tests and trials. When I realised no one else was creating sex toys from ocean plastic, I wanted to be the first to create a product – now! But this process was a real journey, and there were so many steps we needed to get absolutely right. Which type of plastic could we use? How would it react to being put in a mould? How could we present it in a way that corresponds with the vision? Finding the very best team to collaborate with on this was our highest priority. It needed to be a team who values honesty and transparency as much as we do, and this is where #tide came in.

#tide uses plastic that already exists by removing it from in and around the ocean. They put pride and effort into powering their process with renewable energy. That means with ohhcean, we don’t require new plastic production and we are recycling plastic that has been left for waste.

In the ohhcean collection there are just three toys – the Magic Wand, the G-spot Vibrator and the Body Vibrator – and we are extremely happy with the results. We were confident in the decision to only create these three products as we wanted to make sure this is what our customers wanted before producing more. Otherwise, it’s just product for production’s sake and that’s not what we’re about. The products are fully rechargeable and in eco-conscious packaging.

We believe we have taken every step possible (on our side) to make a truly sustainable product. Yet we are still dependent on outside sources, and these outside sources are still in the process of getting better themselves. We need the shipping process to be completely powered by renewable energy. We would like to see delivery to be done by electric cars, using fuel from renewable sources only.

For now, it is time for us to keep learning and developing, and to discover what this collection means to our consumers. Does it instil the same sense of belonging and pride in taking part in something good for them as it does for us? We hope so. I am extremely aware that this is just a small drop in the ocean. But this is just the start, and I hope it will make waves and inspire.

Mathilde Mackowski is the co-founder and CVO of Sinful, and founder of ohhcean, the world’s first sex toys made with ocean-bound plastic