Barbie is going green.

Not that she and Ken (or is it Blaine, after the 2004 breakup?) are buying a Prius or installing pink solar panels.

Nor is Barbie taking a job as a recycling coordinator. (Although she has followed trends, enlisting in Desert Storm in 1992 and going astronaut in '65, '86 and '94.)

The green connection is that Mattel Inc. has decided to reuse leftover fabric from Barbie fashions. (More than 105 million yards has gone into one billion outfits.) Instead of being thrown in the trash, the cloth remnants are becoming patchwork purses, handbags, wallets and totes for Barbie's young human fans. They go on sale this month at Toys R Us.

It all came about when a Mattel exec was touring a Barbie plant and noticed a bolt of pretty fabric in the corner, says publicist Lauren Dougherty. He asked about it. They told him it was being discarded.

It was a lightbulb moment.

"Barbie is always concerned," Dougherty says - never mind snarky comments on the Web about the mountain of plastic used for Barbie (placed end to end, she and her family members sold since 1959 would circle the Earth more than seven times). "We recognize it's a small step, but certainly in the right direction."

The name of the new line is BCause, as in: "BCause being environmentally friendly is the right thing to do."

Which is why a new Barbie will be appearing this spring wearing a T-shirt that says "Think Pink, Live Green."

- Sandy Bauers