How To De-Stink A Toy

October 30, 2020 8:09 AM

Hello! I have a miniature toy chair that smells horribly of manufacturing chemicals. I have experienced this in the past, and usually just setting it aside in a well-ventilated area and forgetting about it for a while (after a quick alcohol wipedown) has been enough to cause the smell molecules to disperse. Not this time.

I have a toy very similar to this. The two removable "cushions" are made of a firm rubbery plastic. They hold more of the smell. They have outgassed some, but not all the way. When I first received the toy in the mail, this small item had the power to smell up an entire room and I had to put it outside. I washed my hands a lot. When it got too rainy to leave outside I took the two "cushions" out and put all three pieces of the chair in the corner of a back room and forgot them there for several weeks. Yesterday I went to check on them and to my sadness it still stank. Right now the cushion parts are sunk in a small bowl of baking soda. The chair part is alone. I am awaiting more baking soda in the mail and then I might submerge the chair part in a larger nonporous container. I am also considering kitty litter. Or maybe I might take the whole thing to the hazardous waste dump. Have you ever managed to get a very smelly toy to offgas completely? I have other Chinese-manufactured designer-knockoff miniature toy chairs that maybe had slight odors when they arrived, but now they all cohabit just fine in my cabinet without causing toxic smell buildups. Advice welcome!

posted by 41swans to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (4 answers total)

Baking soda, which you already know about, would be my first inclination. Then a long period (hours or days) in the sun and wind. Finally, I am continually amazed at the power of drops of lemon juice in a solution of soapy dishwater to remove almost any smell from almost any plastic. My life with plastic containers has been so much better since I learned this trick. Good luck with your toy!
posted by seasparrow at 8:55 AM on October 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

Odors will disperse or be absorbed by baking soda more quickly if the cushions are in a warmer room. If you can safely raise the temperature and have good ventilation in the room where these things are airing out, that could help.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 9:01 AM on October 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

Doesn't baking soda odor reduction work by neutralising acid, rather than by absorbing odor? Most organic stinks are acidic,which is why it works. I don't think it will make a difference to outgassing plastic. Or am I wrong?
posted by Zumbador at 10:50 AM on October 30, 2020

You could place in a huge plastic bag, cardboard box or similar container with a lot of pelleted charcoal, then close it up for a week or so. I did this once when I forgot a gallon of milk in my car and it exploded. Oh, it was awful. It took a few days, but the charcoal finally did the trick. I found it in a pet supply store, as it's used in fish tank filters. I had to vacuum it up in the end, because the little pellets are a bitch to clean up off carpet. Not cheap, though. Someone on the thread might know of a cheaper way to source charcoal.
posted by citygirl at 2:41 PM on October 30, 2020 [1 favorite]