If you’re feeling like you’ve donated enough old toys to your local charity shop recently and are wondering how else you can give those toys a second lease on life, you’ll be pleased to know there is now another way: Big W’s Toys for Joy.
Announced this week, the first of its kind toy recycling program sees Big W teaming up with TerraCycle to give Australian families a sustainable solution for recycling their children’s pre-loved toys. The aim is to reduce the number of toys that could otherwise be thrown away or chucked into landfill.
In the lead-up to Christmas, parents can bring in their kids’ pre-loved toys to 41 stores across the country and the program will see the toys being used to create new play equipment for communities that need it most.
According to Managing Director of BIG W, Pejman Okhovat, as families grow, children grow out of their toys and with few options to recycle them, they end up in landfill.
“Our stores involved in the initial pilot program delivered over 3,500kgs to TerraCycle for recycling. These results from the trial were incredibly encouraging and I can’t wait to see what our communities achieve together as we bring Toys for Joy to more families across Australia.”
Jean Bailliard, General Manager of TerraCycle Australia, praised Big W for providing an in-store recycling solution for toys in Australia.
“The majority of toys aren’t kerbside recyclable and end up in landfill because they’re made up of complex materials like metal, rubber and a variety of plastics,” Bailliard said. “It’s incredible to see Big W take on the recycling for all brands of toys and they have now expanded their program to 31 stores to make it even more accessible for Australians.”
If you’re keen to bring your toys in, first, check the list of participating Big W stores here. Then, simply drop them off into purpose-built Toys for Joy recycling stations at the front of the store. Note that Big W can’t accept play dough, wooden toys, board games oversized toys, like bikes, scooters and skateboards. The retailer hopes to have the program at all of its stores by the end of 2022.
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