Tesco has launched a trial recycling programme for plastic toys, transforming them into educational resources.
- The initiative is in collaboration with Hasbro and Wastebuster, running in select stores from September to December 2023.
- Recycled toys will be repurposed into items like coat hangers and coffee machines, promoting a circular economy.
- Participants can earn points for schools, which are redeemable for books from Harper Collins.
- The scheme aims to enhance plastic reuse and children’s access to reading materials.
Tesco is piloting an innovative recycling campaign designed to convert damaged plastic toys into educational materials for UK schools. This initiative, undertaken in partnership with Hasbro and the environmental education company Wastebuster, is set to run from 4 September to 4 December 2023 in selected Tesco stores. By providing recycling bins, the programme encourages families and children to bring in their broken hard plastic toys, transforming them into valuable resources for future use.
The scheme aligns with Tesco’s commitment to reducing, reusing, and recycling plastic in operations and promotes the ethos of a circular economy. Ally Rose, Tesco’s Category Director for toys, expressed enthusiasm for supporting the Recycle to Read initiative, noting its potential to offer children improved access to reading materials while addressing hard-to-recycle plastics.
Families are urged to first consider rehoming toys through donations to friends, family members, school sales, or local charities. However, toys that are broken beyond repair can be recycled at participating stores. The collected toys are processed into plastic pellets which are then used to manufacture a variety of new products, such as coat hangers, chairs, and coffee machines.
Particularly in the Sussex area, re-homed and recycled toys can be registered on the Wastebuster website to amass ‘Planet Care Points’. Schools attended by children aged between two and eleven can accumulate these points, and the fifty top-scoring schools will receive book vouchers worth part of a £5,000 prize fund from Harper Collins, allowing them to purchase discounted books.
Overall, the initiative strives to not only involve consumers in recycling efforts but also to provide tangible benefits to educational institutions, reinforcing the importance of environmental sustainability while fostering literacy among young learners.
The Tesco toy recycling programme exemplifies a strategic approach to promoting sustainability and supporting education through innovative partnerships.
