Excess packaging used with children's toys could be cut back under new government plans.
Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman will announce proposals to extend a voluntary code on cutting packaging on food and toys after an official review of waste policy.
If it is successful, it could be extended to other household goods including mobile phones, microwaves and toasters.
Shrink wrapped? Under government proposals, the amount of cardboard and plastic packaging in toys could be cut
Mrs Spelman has invited toy makers and other trade bodies to join a working group aimed at cutting down waste around toys.
A Whitehall source told The Daily Telegraph: 'We hope that by working with industry, we can work to reduce some of the unnecessary cardboard and plastic packaging around toys which parents will be all too familiar with.
'They can still be wrapped protectively, but in a way that means not so much packaging ends up going in the bin once it's unwrapped.
'And that's ultimately better for the environment.'
Officials have begun talks with the British Toy and Hobby Association over the proposals.
Argos and Hasbro are reported to be among the companies that have expressed an interest in cutting down on the amount of packaging in toys.
Britain generates some 29 million tons of household rubbish every year - more than 20 per cent of which is packaging.
Of the six million tons of packaging - just under a third is estimated to come from toys, mobile phones, computers and other appliances.
Supermarkets have already signed up to the Courtauld Commitment - a voluntary agreement to cut down on packaging used in groceries.
That expires next year and ministers were hoping to extend it to cover household goods.
Plans: Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman has invited toy makers to join a working group aimed at cutting down on packaging
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