'World's First' Toy Rehoming And Recycling Project Launched In Sussex

East and West Sussex primary schools will be the first to benefit from a new toy reuse and recycling initiative, trialling in selected Tesco stores until December 4.

In a nutshell, customers will be able to drop broken plastic toys in-store for recycling and collect points for books.

Families are first encouraged to rehome toys through charitable giving to friends, family, school toy sales or local charities.

Broken toys can be recycled in store, where they are collected, cleaned and turned into plastic pellets, before being used to create new items including coat hangers, chairs and coffee machines.

Tesco and Hasbro have joined forces with leading not-for-profit environmental education company, Wastebuster, to trial the new in-store campaign. 

The scheme will be rolled out to further stores if it proves successful and popular with customers.

Here's Captain Busta and Pong to explain it:

Backed by global toy and games company, Hasbro, the initiative aims to drive a circular solution for unwanted or broken hard plastic toys. And the reasons behind the campaign?

• Over 318 million toys are sold in the UK every year, the majority of which are manufactured from plastic or contain plastic components.
• Currently there is limited infrastructure to collect and recycle plastic toys in the UK.
• Millions of perfectly useable, pre-loved and new toys end up in landfill or remain gathering dust for years in cupboards, drawers or toy boxes.
• 1 in 8 of the most disadvantaged children in the UK don’t have a single book of their own
• 1 in 7 schools don’t have a library

Here's how it works:

Rehomed and recycled plastic toys can be registered via the Wastebuster website to earn Planet Care Points for any schools attended by children from 2-11 years old in the Sussex area. Eligible schools can register for free to earn points for books at www.jointhepod.org/toys.

The Recycle to Read scheme will then reward the fifty highest point-scoring schools in the area with book vouchers from a prize fund of £5,000, to spend on a wide range of discounted books by children’s publishing house, Harper Collins.

Participating schools can also win fantastic book bundles, provided by publishing houses Farshore and Ladybird, in a weekly prize draw.

The Recycle to Read campaign was launched by Wastebuster in association with Products of Change and is powered by members of the toy industry and all major children’s publishers, distributors – including Immediate Media Company; Story House Egmont; Redan; Kennedy; Signature; DC Thompson; Frontline and Seymour.

The campaign aims to drive new infrastructure for hard-to-recycle plastic toys, as well as providing reading materials to support literacy in UK nurseries and primary schools across the UK.

Wastebuster are pleased to announce that the British Toy and Hobby Association (BTHA) will be joining the advisory team, in line with the Association’s broad support of the aims and intentions of the initiative.

Katy Newnham, founder of Wastebuster said:

“Recycle to Read supports families in learning about the environmental benefits of toy rehoming and recycling, while rewarding them with books for taking part.

"What better way can we inspire and empower children to make pro-environmental choices, than by storytelling with their favourite characters and giving them an opportunity to send their unwanted toys on a new adventure that is good for the planet?”.

Helena Mansell-Stopher, founder of Products of Change said:

“The Recycle to Read platform is the result of the tireless work of an industry coming together with cross-sector stakeholders around the need to find more sustainable solution for unwanted or broken toys. After so many years in the making, it’s amazing to see the campaign come to life through this Hasbro and Tesco partnership.

"This is a hugely exciting moment that I believe represents a turning point for circularity in toys, and a wonderful example of what can be achieved when industry demonstrates sector leadership and comes together, in the pursuit of sustainability”.

Ally Rose, Tesco Category Director for Toys said:

“We are always looking for new ways to remove, reduce, reuse and recycle plastic in our business, so we’re delighted to be able to support the Recycle to Read campaign as a way to help our customers do more of this at home.

"As well as trialling a new way we can work together on hard-to-recycle plastics, it also helps to give children greater access to reading”.

Sara Westby, Director of Marketing at Hasbro, said:

“At Hasbro, we know kids and families everywhere share our passion for protecting our planet, which is why we’re proud to partner with Wastebuster on the Recycle to Read campaign. We encourage everyone to keep their memories, but recycle their broken toys – doing good to the planet and to people”.

For more information on Recycle to Read, visit: https://www.recycletoread.org or contact Katy@wastebuster.co.uk

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About Wastebuster:

Katy Newnham, Founder, Wastebuster:

We are a small not-for-profit based in Albury, Guildford. I set up Wastebuster in 2006 to encourage children to care for the environment and it is now one of largest free environmental education programmes, with 17, 800 schools registered in the UK. It is only possible to maintain the programme with the kind support of groups promoting it and supporting us by funding the campaigns. All our campaigns, like Waste Week, aim to activate real and lasting change for communities. We are focusing on toys as we believe in the power of stories to engage children’s hearts and minds in care for the environment, so they might tread more lightly on the Earth as they grow up.