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My Chickadee Bird sat on a globe

The Scary Facts*

  • Every year in the UK we buy 381 million new toys (that's enough to restock Hamleys toy shop 847 times!)

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  • The average child will have owned nearly 200 toys before they are five. 

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  • 66% of the nations toys are plastic - most unrecyclable petrochemicals that will take hundreds of years to break down. 

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  • 28% of UK parents admitted to discarding toys in good working order. 

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  • Only 53% of parents have ever donated a toy to charity. 

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  • Children tend to lose interest in toys in just over a month (36 days) 

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  • Children have an average of four toys that they've never even played with. This means that there could potentially be a staggering 162 million toys in the UK that have never been played with. 

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What can we do about it?

My Chickadee Bird

  The good news is that 73% of UK parents will buy second hand toys.                 

 'Play with me, love me, and pass me on'

At My Chickadee want to make sure that all 'unloved' toys get to homes that will cherish them for generations so they don't end up in landfill. 

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If you buy a toy from us and your child loses interest or never plays with it you can return it and receive a voucher off your next shop. We will then assess the condition of the toy and either donate it to charity or resell it in our 'preloved' section making sustainable toys more affordable. 

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The best way to arrange returning unloved toys is to drop us an email on info@mychickadee.co.uk or contact us through social media @mychickadeeltd 

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Here are some other ideas to stop toys going to landfill 

  • The British Heart Foundation accepts in-store donations and has a collection service for bulkier items, like climbing frames and Wendy houses.

  • Toys 4 Life, a charity that focuses on recycling and reusing plastic toys.

  • The Teddy Trust collects teddy bears from children around the UK and sends them to children who are suffering the traumas of war, starvation or abuse.

  • The Toy Project repurposes toys for children in the UK as well as throughout India, Africa, and the Caribbean.

  • Charity shops in your local area may be open to accepting toys in a good condition.

  • Family shelters and domestic violence refuges in your local area may be interested in donations.

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If a My Chickadee toy does end up broken beyond repair and it needs to be thrown away, you have the peace of mind that they are either recyclable or fully biodegradable. 

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*All information on this page was taken from a survey carried out by The British Heart Foundation April 2019

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