The sustainability awards in the toy industry. Literal. The Spanish Association of Toy Manufacturers (AEFJ) has incorporated this year three new categories in the awards which celebrates. One of them recognizes the best toy for a more sustainable world –the other is rewarded by the transmission of values and the development of the imagination–. The winner of the edition held last June has been a ecoluche whose filling is obtained the treatment of plastic bottles taken out of the sea. The company is called Beysal and his marketing manager, Lola de Barutell, says that the recycling they take it in their DNA. “We are young”, he argues. She has 30 years. The company operates from one does.
How to recycle your toy
Know the proper container in which to dispose of it according to the material they are made. That is plastic does not imply that it goes to yellow
“There is a higher consumer sensitivity toward the values that promote the toys,” says Maite French, of the Marketing department of the AEFJ. According to data from the association, it is estimated that by 2019 will close with an average expenditure per child on toys from € 190, around 10 articles per child per year (the average in the USA is 43). The ecoluches of Beysal represent six marine animals to be coherent with the origin of the material of which they are made, and they cost 19,99 euro.
younger still, but with more pedigree, are the alicante Kadibudoo. From Ibi, the epicenter of the toy in Spain, have launched this year a game of building with blocks of recyclable cardboard. “Recyclable”, reiterates the founder Rafa Looked. “The recycled raw material is very expensive. There is aid enough to be competitive,” he explains. The sustainability enrich it with an envelope of seeds that comes with the game. “We clearcut on one side. We planted on the other,” explains Miró, who comes from a family of toy.
design Student, Looked at and rode a print shop and has taken his knowledge of materials and the graphic arts to apply them to these toys sustainable. The cardboard, with the children to build a parapet, or whatever, is obtained from forest harvesting. Not all the packaging that accompanies these toys proceed, however, of this kind of trees. According to the Spanish Association of Manufacturers of Pulp, Paper and Cardboard (Aspapel), the recycling of this material increases 10% in December and January. In the months of Christmas will generate 900,000 tons of cardboard and paper.
The AEFJ has developed a project with the Technological Institute of the Toy in which she has interviewed companies and consumers to know what policies are being carried out on these issues. “The next march will take place the first great gathering on sustainability in the field of toy,” says French. The Eco Toy day toy eco-friendly) is scheduled to be held in Madrid and will address the new demand for toys sustainable and the results Shared and recycled, the charity campaign to collect toys to donate to charity or recycle them.
The big climb on the train
The same type of sustainable forests get the wood the toy Swedish founded in 1884, Brio, that from five years ago used this material for their trains and roller rocker arms. Another historic sector, Lego, made his first toys with wood in the thirties of the last century. The Danish company entered the plastic in the fifties. A century later, by 2030, it has been proposed that the material with which they build their blocks of colors appropriate from recycled bottles or plastic fibers of plants.
There is another toy with great character. Founded in Bavaria (Germany) in 1938, he won the prize of the AEFJ in the category Best toy to experience the world with a waterslide that launches a ball. Built in beech wood, the raw material is obtained from the trees that the toy plant in a radius of not more than 50 kilometres from the headquarters. “No one wears a mask in the production chain”, says Mònica González, responsible of Marketing in Spain, to explain the absence of toxic substances in the manufacturing.
The filling of this whale of Beysal is obtained from the treatment of 13 bottles of plastic recovered from the seas. Relinquished by Beysal.
The headquarters in Germany with rooftops gardens, recycling of scrap wood and the use of solar energy. “There are a lot of ISO”, justified in reference to the certifications that ensure the safety and quality of products and services. Gonzalez assures that, now that sustainability is a fad -“Spain is a country of fashion” – has to remember the commitment of Haba with the environment despite being something intrinsic in the company. Some of their wooden toys have been in the catalog since the birth of the company. In Spain are known for the table games.
Not worth all the colors
The sustainability compromises the design. “You will never see a ecoluches of neon,” says De Barutell, who was inspired with its partners in the fashion companies committed to the environment. Your communication campaign is similar to that of this sector. Mentions the involvement of influencers. “But do it for free,” he says. Shopping for toys online will outweigh in Spain 20%, according to the AEFJ, formed by 89 companies, and which represent 64% of the turnover of the sector. Far from the 40% of Germany and the United Kingdom and 30% in France.
Of Barutell account that the designs of the toys are not bombastic but minimalist, with tints and colors simple. Each teddy informs on the packaging of the number of bottles that have been recovered from the sea to make your filling. Beysal sold to Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico, and countries in northern Europe. Exports will represent 37.5% of the turnover, which will reach 1,600 million euros, according to forecasts of the association of toy. The volume of sales is equal to the budget in the health sector of Asturias last year.
Those who are in another part of the rosco of the circular economy are the belgians ecoBirdy. Transform recycled toys in children’s furniture such as tables and chairs. “The design of the pieces would be completely different if not utilizaramos the plastic of the toys,” says Vanessa Yuan, one of the founders, by e-mail from Antwerp (Belgium). This is not an occurrence shared on Pinterest. Their tables and chairs and other items of design have earned six awards and are displayed in seven exhibits of two european cities. La Nau, cultural centre of the University of Valencia, exhibits his work until December 22. EcoBirdy is served of new technologies for the recovery of the plastic. You have No need to use resins or pigments in the construction of his collection.
