Reducing Toy Waste at Christmas!

In Australia, it’s estimated that nearly 27 million toys are thrown out every year.

Putting the spotlight on toy waste is World Sustainable Toy Day which is taking place on November 17, 2023. This year's theme Towards a Carbon Neutral Toy Industry highlights a desirable goal for the toy industry, which each of us can play a part in. With Black Friday sales and the festive season coming up, you might be planning to get some toys for your own children or family and friends. When choosing toys, ask yourself: whether to buy new or pre-loved toys; which toys might be reusable or passed on in the long-term; what the toys are made from; how many toys you actually need; and what to do with toys you no longer want.

Read on for some tips on making sustainable decisions about toys, whether new or pre-loved!

NEW TOYS
Choose toys which are well-made and durable, and which appeal to multiple age groups (your children will take longer to outgrow them!). If possible, aim for toys which aren’t the latest fad, but which will be fun for years. It’s a good idea to check if soft toys are machine-washable – it can be hard to clean a soft toy which a battery pack. And always, try to care for and store the toys well. Would you consider buying toys which are made from recycled materials – like milk bottles? And just like other things you buy, try to choose toys which are locally made with plastic-free packaging.

This may be controversial for some, but could you consider owning less toys? You could choose fewer, quality toys, not just for environmental reasons, but also for developmental reasons. Some research shows that fewer toys lead to better quality playtime for toddlers, which builds their concentration skills and fosters more creative play.

PRELOVED TOYS
Normalising giving and receiving pre-loved toys is a move in the right direction for future generations because it will reduce toy waste. Choosing pre-loved toys, instead of new toys, is environmentally friendly and can save you money. Toys can be borrowed from toy libraries which is a great alternative to owning toys. Find your closest toy library here.

Many toys can be passed onto others if they are in good condition. To check if a toy is in good condition, look for any evidence of deterioration. Choice recommends checking for breaks and small loose parts because these are choking hazards to babies and toddlers. Toy product recalls can also be checked with ACCC.

If you have good condition toys that you no longer want, you could consider doing one of the following: giving the toys to family or friends; giving them away on Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace, Buy Nothing Facebook groups or other similar places; giving them to your local community centre; donating to a charity; selling them through second hand marketplaces. Equally, these are great places to look for pre-loved toys for your family!

RECYCLING TOYS
You may think that the only place for toys that have reached their end-of-life is the rubbish bin, but there are other options for them. In 2021, TerraCycle partnered with BIG W to provide a recycling service for worn out and broken toys. Toys for Joy collected over 18 tonnes of toys in its first year of trial operations. In 2022, Big W expanded the program to all 176 stores nationally and has collected over 155 tonnes of toys to date. Jean Bailliard, General Manager of TerraCycle Australia New Zealand, said that virtually everything has a technical recycling solution but whether or not something is recycled depends on economics.

“The majority of toys are not kerbside recyclable due to the complex nature of their composition. Toys are frequently made up of several materials including different types of plastics, metals, fabrics and fillers, which means they need to be manually sorted and separated,” he said.

“Toys like dolls or action figures for example are made from many different types of plastic, so the cost to collect and process the material is more than the value of raw material produced through the recycling process.”

Toys for Joy accepts plastic, metal, plush and electronic toys with batteries removed.

Another option for recycling toys is to look out for TerraCycle’s Toys Zero Waste Boxes at participating businesses. These recycling boxes accept any item used for play, including electronic toys with batteries removed. Queensland-based SPARK POP, an experience marketplace, is one such business that offers the recycling service at a few of their venues with more locations to be announced soon.

SPARK POP Founder Melissa Soutar said that part of the overwhelm of parenting is ending up with a lot of random toy pieces and broken toys. Rather than sending these to landfill, she went searching for a recycling option. “Our locally owned activity and attraction venues nominate to have a Zero Waste Toy Box to make recycling of pre-loved toys more accessible to their local community,” Soutar said.

This Christmas, experience the joy of giving while keeping sustainability in mind!

Dani Smith is a Freelance Writer, Editor, Consumer Insights Consultant and mother of two. She's curious about finding ways to reduce waste at home.