#217: How To Make Your Toy Brand Climate Friendly with Helen Townsend
In the face of a looming climate crisis, can the toy industry lead the charge towards a sustainable future? Well today’s interview guest believes the toy industry has a responsibility to address the environmental impact of our industry. Helen Townsend, co-founder of the B Corp certified toy company Sustained Fun, dives into the critical role that toy companies can play in reducing emissions and increasing environmental education.
Even if your toy company isn’t an eco-first brand, this episode provides a step by step explanation on how you can start calculating and offsetting your carbon emissions. This isn't just about making toys that last; it's about crafting experiences that teach the next generation about sustainability through play. Tune in for a no-holds-barred discussion on using business as a force for good and discover actionable strategies that every toy brand can implement today.
Listen in to find out how Sustained Fun is building climate confidence in children, and how thoughtful toy design and how it can lead to a more sustainable world.
Episode Cliff Notes
Learn the basics of offsetting carbon emissions in the toy industry
Discover how Sustained Fun’s sustainable toy products
Hear about the inception of World Sustainable Toy Day
Explore the impact of sustainable packaging design
Learn about the 2030 calculator for measuring carbon footprint
Discover the role of certifications in sustainable manufacturing
Understand the significance of World Sustainable Toy Day
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This episode is brought to you by www.thetoycoach.com
2030 Calculator
Shipping Distance Calculator
Helen Townsend’s Toy Company: Sustained Fun
Connect with Helen on LinkedIn
B. Corp Certified Toy Companies -
[00:00:00] Azhelle Wade: You are listening to Making It In The Toy Industry, episode number
[00:00:03] 217.
[00:00:05] Azhelle Wade: how do you offset carbon emissions?
[00:00:08] Helen Townsend: The basic things you can do if you're starting out is you measure your electricity usage, you measure the waste that you send to landfill, and then you find a company that is certified for carbon offsets. Because carbon offsets can be used to greenwash, to pretend that we are doing things for the environment that we're not doing.
[00:00:59] Azhelle Wade: Hey there, toy [00:01:00] people. Azhelle Wade here, and welcome back to another episode of the Toy Coach podcast, Making It In The Toy Industry. This is a weekly podcast brought to you by thetoycoach.com
[00:01:10] Our guest today is Helen Townsend, the co founder of Sustained Fun, a purpose led B Corp certified toy company that invents and brings
[00:01:19] to market quality climate focused toys. They use the power of play to grow climate confident kids. Helen is also the founder of World of Sustainable Toy Day, which is a campaign to promote and educate on sustainability in the toy industry. And since sustainability has been a big topic for a few years and is only growing for 2024, I thought, why not have Helen come on the show
[00:01:43] helen, welcome to the show.
[00:01:45] Helen Townsend: Thank you, Azhelle. It's really nice to be here.
[00:01:48] Azhelle Wade: It's so great to have you here. The two topics I want to address are sustain fun, talk about climate focused toys, and this new brand you've launched after EcoSplat, and then talk a [00:02:00] little bit about this World Sustainable Toy Day that you founded.
[00:02:04] But before we dive into all of that, Helen, I got to ask you this, finish this for me.
[00:02:08] The thing that surprised me most about the toy industry was
[00:02:12] Helen Townsend: Well, I
[00:02:13] surprised at how far behind other industries, the toy industry is when it comes to sustainability. I thought it would be much, much further ahead.
[00:02:24] Azhelle Wade: That statement needs to be dived into a little bit more. Can you tell me two or three things that you see other industries doing that we haven't yet adapted in the toy industry?
[00:02:33] Helen Townsend: 10 years ago and when
[00:02:34] the,
[00:02:36] reducing single use plastic started to become a thing, that's when I started out in sustainable business.
[00:02:42] And the toy industry now is like what sort of household plastic reduction was like 10 years ago. It's, you have to look really hard to find a toy that is sustainable.
[00:02:53] You have to investigate it yourself, you have to make sure you understand what sustainable actually means. You can't just go to the [00:03:00] supermarket and buy something. Whereas now I don't know what it's like in other places around the world everywhere, but in New Zealand, you now you take your reusable you can buy sustainable products at the supermarket, shampoo, bars, and bamboo toothbrushes and all of these things.
[00:03:13] And it's a lot easier to make choices that are good for the planet. If you want to buy a toy that doesn't have a high negative environmental impact, you have to look it out and search it out and try to find it. You can't just pop down to your local toy shop necessarily and buy something. So I think that's the main difference there.
[00:03:33] Azhelle Wade: Yeah. So I would love to start with the definition of what is sustainable. What makes a product sustainable?
[00:03:42] Helen Townsend: A lot of people when they think of a sustainable toy, they think of a wooden toy And that's not necessarily sustainable. So
[00:03:50] Things that make up a sustainable toy is the thing that I think is The most important is, do kids want to play with it? Because, that, I mean, that is [00:04:00] why we're here, making toys.
[00:04:01] But kids lose interest in 25 percent of their toys after one week. So, are we making a toy that is good for Christmas Day? And then will be either stored in the cupboard for five years and then thrown out? Or are we making a toy that kids want to play with? Play it over and over again. That's the most important thing.
[00:04:19] That's more important than what the toy is made of. Another thing is the toy going to break? If you're making toys that are gonna break straight away, it doesn't matter what they're made of. Kids aren't gonna play with them. Another thing is how can the child play with the toy? Is it like, is there one thing they can do with the toy.
[00:04:38] And then after they've done that, what, are you just gonna keep doing that one thing. For five years. Or is it open ended? Can they adapt it? Can they use their imaginations? Can they play with it with their siblings or their parents or their friends in different ways? So the longer we can keep toys in use, And the longer that they last, and the [00:05:00] longer that they're more interesting, that's what is gonna, that's what makes a toy really sustainable.
[00:05:05] Making good toys that kids want to play with for a long time, that's pretty important,
[00:05:09] Azhelle Wade: I've heard a lot of people focused on their, Your carbon footprint, like admissions to all that. How important do you think that is in the definition of sustainability? Okay.
[00:05:36] Helen Townsend: toys
[00:05:37] made from plastic and most of them are from virgin petroleum based plastic.
[00:05:42] So that in itself has a really high carbon footprint, especially if you're then shipping it. Across the world. So if you can make your toy more locally to where your market is, that's really useful. That's quite hard in places like New Zealand, because we're not close to anything, anywhere, or anyone.
[00:05:59] Azhelle Wade: Silence. [00:06:00] Silence. Silence. Silence.
[00:06:00] Helen Townsend: But if you can make it from something that is not virgin petroleum based plastic, then you're really lowering your carbon footprint. So that's these things are quite hard because they're not necessarily on the market. So we have to, as manufacturers, we have to push for more recycled plastic or bioplastic or product or Materials that are not plastic so that we can progress that in the industry.
[00:06:26] So measuring the carbon footprint is really important, but and then the end of life, what happens to at the end, how many emissions you're producing there's a really great calculator you can use. It's called the 2030 calculator and you can put in your materials and it will tell you Like the embedded carbon and in those materials, so you can hopefully choose something that is a lower carbon footprint.
[00:06:49] Azhelle Wade: Oh, great. We'll put the link to that in the show notes, the 2030 calculator. So why should a toy company even care about sustainability? Why is, you know, our [00:07:00] climate of a concern?
[00:07:01] Helen Townsend: That's a really big question. Super, super important question. I'm so glad you asked that question because it's really important. And there's a number of reasons that it's important. And one is that we're in the middle of a climate and biodiversity crisis. So, and it's not going to improve unless we improve.
[00:07:18] it
[00:07:19] We need to provide a choice so that people can shop in a way that is better for the climate.
[00:07:25] So if we carry on producing emissions. We're just gonna have way, way more weather events, more famine, more drought, more heavy rainfall, depending where you are, just and it's gonna be bad, and it's gonna be bad for kids as well. It's gonna cost more, so then, yeah. Governments have less money, which means people have less money, which means they have less money to buy toys, but that's not really our, that's a big capitalist, like we do actually need to have a livable world for us and for animals as well.
[00:07:55] But, the most important thing that I think is why toys need to be really [00:08:00] involved in this is because toys are how kids connect. First, see the world, like how kids interact with the world, how kids interact with shopping and consuming and products. And if we are if we're not doing any toys that are good for the environment or talk about the environment in any way what we're doing is we're saying that sustainability that you learn in school, It's over here, where you do school stuff, which is boring.
[00:08:27] But then when you want to have fun, you go to the toy shop and it's all plastic, and you don't have to concern yourself. And kids, obviously, are going to be the next adults. And it doesn't matter what industry they're going into, we need everybody to be more environmentally focused. And if we have that split we're not teaching kids or helping them to address the climate change and how they feel about climate change.
[00:08:49] So heaps of kids are really anxious. So, we need to help them with that as well. I think we have a responsibility as people in the toy industry to, to help out our [00:09:00] customers.
[00:09:00] Azhelle Wade: Yeah I mean, I do have a friend whose child is very anxious about change, I think she, she's just really smart, about 10 years old, and I guess she sees a lot of things that people talk about, and she got really anxious one day just worrying about it. And it would be. Just really helpful if there, if she could see that adults in industries are making concerted efforts to change the way that we consume so that it won't be a devastating issue for her when she grows up.
[00:09:29] How do you define a bio crisis? Because you, you said that, yeah. How do you define a biodiversity crisis?
[00:09:38] Helen Townsend: Insect populations around the world have plummeted in some places up to 90%. So, People don't really care about this because insects are not fluffy and nice and also, you know, people don't like ants and mosquitoes and stuff, but if we don't have any insects, then the whole ecosystem will collapse because they pollinate our [00:10:00] food, they clean up, and dead animals that like, like super important.
[00:10:05] And we just don't care that, that they're all disappearing. So you don't have to be like a you don't have to be like a super fan of insects like I am, but we have to know that these things because of pollution and pesticides and habitat loss, we're losing these vital Parts of of the ecosystem of the world.
[00:10:22] And if they go, then we're going to go too. So,
[00:10:27] Azhelle Wade: yeah.
[00:10:27] Let's refocus on Sustained Fun, the company that you co founded. But I also, I feel like we need to do just a quick call back to EcoSplat.
[00:10:38] Helen Townsend: Yeah, so, we actually set up our company Sustained Fun right back when we did EcoSplat, but we, at that point we only had one toy. So we knew that wasn't going to be the only toy, but we didn't know what was coming later. So we just started with EcoSplat and kept Sustained Fun in the background.
[00:10:54] And now we have other toys. We're like, okay, now this is the year where we can become sustained [00:11:00] fun and our brands are EcoSplat and Wild Fixers, which is our new one as well. So, yeah, so we've become a toy company with multiple brands now.
[00:11:09] Azhelle Wade: How does your product teach about sustainability? What kinds of products do you have that teach kids about climate change, teach them about being more sustainable, or help them do that?
[00:11:20] Helen Townsend: Yeah, so we have four products at the moment, so EcoSplat reusable water balloons a.
[00:11:25] Azhelle Wade: Silence. Silence.
[00:11:26] Helen Townsend: Reusable water balloon that you can play with. So water fights in New Zealand are huge, like every weekend, every, almost every day in the summer if it's hot kids are out having water fights and generally with water fights you fill up the balloon and then you throw it and it creates a ton of rubbish all around your lawn.
[00:11:44] So we have made a reusable water balloon that reduces or gets rid of all the rubbish from a water fight. And this is like super important because parents don't want to be the fun police and we meet so many parents who won't let their kids have water balloons anymore because of all the rubbish [00:12:00] and because there's such a mismatch between how people feel about single use disposable products and the rubbish and Having fun with water fights.
[00:12:09] So with these ones you just dunk them in water, you throw them, and then you just carry on and you can have a water fight that lasts all day with no rubbish to pick up. So yeah, this is super fun.
[00:12:19] Azhelle Wade: And the next products are books and puzzles.
[00:12:22] Helen Townsend: Yeah, so this is Splat Play Discover, and this is a science book for little kids three to seven year olds. And it's got a whole bunch of science experiments that you can do using EcoSplat.
[00:12:33] So like a scavenger hunt, where you hide your EcoSplat, but then you go and look for them, and then you compare What's the difference between like man made products, human made products, sorry, and and natural products, and how different do they look? We've got like some art.
[00:12:46] art
[00:12:47] things there using your EcoSplat with dye and making colored paper, and then we've got some
[00:12:54] Experients at [00:13:00] the front like water displacement.
[00:13:02] some little facts around that. So, there was a, there wasn't anything available really for preschool science. So that's really popular with early childhood education and people who want to use the eco splat Over, over the winter or in other ways, not just having a waterfight.
[00:13:20] fight.
[00:13:21] Azhelle Wade: Then the puzzle.
[00:13:21] Whale poo and CO2.
[00:13:23] Helen Townsend: excited about it as well, it's really awesome. So this is our new puzzle and this is called whale poo and co2 and this is a puzzle that it's beautiful firstly but also it talks about the carbon cycle in the ocean, so how whales and plankton work together, work, they're not really working, they're just living, how they cycle carbon through the ocean and this is really important.
[00:13:51] For humans and other animals because plankton absorb a ton of carbon and they produce oxygen for us to breathe. So sorry, I get a little bit [00:14:00] science y excited here
[00:14:01] Azhelle Wade: That's a clear understanding of
[00:14:03] Helen Townsend: Yeah,
[00:14:03] Azhelle Wade: importance
[00:14:03] these animals to us. And
[00:14:05] you said it explains this. Is it in the puzzle or is it in the back of
[00:14:12] Helen Townsend: a puzzle. So, you can have fun doing the puzzle. And it's really good for families, because we've made it so that the different sections are quite defined, so kids who aren't into It's a thousand piece puzzle, so it's definitely a family puzzle.
[00:14:25] But like when I did it with my daughter, she just did The pink and the red creatures here, like the octopus and then just kind of looked at the box and admired it and said, she said, you know, I really want to live in that world where there's all of those animals. And I was like, yeah, me too.
[00:14:42] Awesome. And then we've got on the side search and find. So kids can, while you're doing the puzzle, they can look for the animals. As you're going,
[00:14:54] Azhelle Wade: Right,
[00:14:55] Helen Townsend: on the back there's a little, a digestible amount of [00:15:00] information that explains it. So it's not too science y, it's just a sentence about each way this works.
[00:15:05] And then we've got some storytelling prompts, so that when kids are looking at it they can just tell stories about what is happening in the puzzle. And the reason we've designed it like this with all of those elements is because It's really stressful for kids and parents to talk about climate change, it's really hard for parents.
[00:15:23] What do you say? It's such a big thing. Kids are really worried, and kids ask a lot of really hard questions. So, we've done this so that when you're doing the puzzle as a family, or when you're doing the puzzle and your kids are just around, or they're helping you with it,
[00:15:37] Or they're doing it whatever's working for your family, Emily, you can have this conversation that's not like face to face.
[00:15:44] You can sit next to each other and you can talk about these things in a really nice way that's non threatening and heaps easier. So we've done that and also it's just really nice. It's a real fun puzzle to do.
[00:15:56] Azhelle Wade: You're sustainable in what you're teaching, the activity, but [00:16:00] also it looks like the packaging in here as well.
[00:16:02] Helen Townsend: Yeah, so we have gone against the grain and we were told that this was not a good idea by people who'd been into industry for a really long time, but we made our box the exact same size as the puzzle. So, you'll know that most puzzle boxes are, super huge, and compared to the puzzle, and we were like, we're not going to do that because it uses more resources, it's, you're shipping air around the world and what, and it takes up too much space in people's houses, and people don't live in big houses anymore like they used to.
[00:16:32] Azhelle Wade: Okay, so we know the finished puzzle size is about 19 inches by 27 inches or 48 by 68 centimeters and the box size
[00:16:42] Helen Townsend: box size is
[00:16:43] 24
[00:16:45] Centimeters by 24 centimeters. It's a square, and then it's the same depth as a normal puzzle box. Which is six centimeters. So it's a lot smaller. And hopefully that goes okay for us.[00:17:00]
[00:17:00] Azhelle Wade: And are you
[00:17:01] Helen Townsend: on, on, on.
[00:17:01] Azhelle Wade: online? Are you selling this only online or is it selling in stores as well?
[00:17:05] Helen Townsend: It's selling in stores as well. It's arriving like next week ready for sale,
[00:17:10] So it's brand new.
[00:17:12] Azhelle Wade: episode is out, you
[00:17:14] Helen Townsend: It'll
[00:17:14] be ready in years to come.
[00:17:16] Azhelle Wade: com and
[00:17:16] Helen Townsend: it online
[00:17:17] Azhelle Wade: online
[00:17:19] Helen Townsend: and it's super awesome. The other thing you'll see is that the box is FSC
[00:17:23] FSC certified.
[00:17:25] So the material is from Forest,
[00:17:28] Stewardship You cardboard,
[00:17:31] from forests and we have our other things, icons there. So we're a B Corp certified company and we offset 120 percent of our carbon. So that means that we measure our carbon emissions and so they came to like just 10 tons for a round number.
[00:17:48] Then we would offset 12 tons of carbon. So we're putting back more into the environment than we're taking away.
[00:17:54] Azhelle Wade: And can we talk about how you do that? Cause I think the concept of offsetting carbon emissions, if somebody wants to do that in their [00:18:00] business, how do you offset carbon emissions?
[00:18:03] Helen Townsend: The basic things you can do if you're starting out is you measure your electricity usage, you measure the waste that you send to landfill, so that means weighing your rubbish
[00:18:15] and if you can measure your shipping, those where your shipping is
[00:18:20] things are really important Then
[00:18:23] so if you can measure those things, and then you can
[00:18:25] go online and find
[00:18:27] how much carbon So for example, if you use 100 kilowatts of electricity, you can go online, a calculator, and it will tell you that produces however many tons of electricity.
[00:18:39] Sometimes, depending on where you are in the world, you can get that information from your power bill, if your electricity company is up with the carbon. Or you can just find a calculator online, and it will tell you that.
[00:18:51] So most of your carbon emissions are going to come from creating the product. But that is it. Is quite hard to measure emissions from because you're working [00:19:00] with factories and other places and how much are they producing and things like that. So the things you can do is find try to find a supplier that Is got some Environmental accreditation.
[00:19:13] If they're measuring their carbon as well, that's super awesome. But if they have other certifications to say that they are looking into, you know, how they produce their products, that's really good. And then you can work with your shipping company if you can. Just mention it to your shipping company and say, do you know how much carbon is produced when I get my stock? That's really good. Cause it starts a conversation. And if they say no, then you can go online to a shipping distance calculator.
[00:19:39] Azhelle Wade: And get your number.
[00:19:41] Helen Townsend: you get your
[00:19:41] Then
[00:19:42] produced ten tons of carbon, a hundred tons, a thousand million, depending on how big your company is, and then
[00:19:49] you
[00:19:50] find
[00:19:51] get your
[00:19:52] company that will offset it, and it's really
[00:19:55] number
[00:19:55] that this is a organization or a company that is [00:20:00] certified for carbon offsets.
[00:20:02] Because carbon offsets can be used to greenwash, to pretend that we are doing things for the environment that we're not doing.
[00:20:09] A really good carbon offset program is things like protecting a mature forest that wouldn't be protected anyway. So because the forests absorb a lot of carbon but if that forest was going to be there anyway, you're not having any added benefit.
[00:20:26] The other thing to look for in a really good carbon offsetting program is Something that is helping communities with renewable energy, this is important for everyone, but it's especially important for the developing world who are moving towards Having more electricity, which is obviously great
[00:20:41] but if we can help them have renewable energy like solar or wind by our offsets, by paying them to help set that up, then they have more clean energy which is better for people's health.
[00:20:55] And we're not using fossil fuels. So offsetting [00:21:00] should be used As the last thing that you do, you should try to reduce your carbon as much as possible, and then whatever's left you offset, so,
[00:21:09] Azhelle Wade: summarize, you want to identify your carbon footprint, make efforts to reduce your carbon footprint, get that final number, and then look into certified carbon offsets. But you mentioned certifications and accreditations earlier,
[00:21:23] Helen Townsend: mm
[00:21:24] Azhelle Wade: to ask, do you know of, can you share accreditations or certifications that Are reputable that we could be looking out for in our factories or in the carbon programs.
[00:21:34] We're looking to get involved with.
[00:21:36] Helen Townsend: Yeah. Yes. So the easiest one is FSC, so forest. Stewardship Council and that relates to paper and cardboard and wood products. So that means that your raw materials are coming from a certified forest. That means they're not chopping down like a tropical rainforest and then also that it has a proportion of that [00:22:00] material that is recycled.
[00:22:01] So that's pretty easy because that is covers like loads of, that's easy to ask for FSC certified and cardboard. That's simple. We are B Corp certified, so B Corp is an organization that measures your social and environmental impact. So you have to meet a really high standard of social and environmental impact in order to become B Corp.
[00:22:24] It's quite a rigorous process, but as well as environment, it covers your workers, how you relate to your customers and your suppliers and how your company is governed. And we chose that because it's one certification that encompasses everything. And we're a small new company. And so we didn't have the either.
[00:22:45] The human resources or the financial resources to have a whole string of Different accreditations. It's a really well respected certification. So i'd look into that
[00:22:54] Azhelle Wade: I wanna actually say here. Yeah. Radio flyer in November of
[00:22:58] Helen Townsend: Yeah.
[00:22:59] Azhelle Wade: [00:23:00] CER mentioned that they were a certified B Corp.
[00:23:03] Helen Townsend: Yes.
[00:23:04] Azhelle Wade: I and Robert Passin came on this show. I think he was episode oof. I'm trying to remember what episode he was. I'll put it in the show notes. But he did come on this show and talk about it, so yeah, it's great to hear this pop up again
[00:23:16] Helen Townsend: there's 15 to 18 B Corp toy companies in the world. So not many. So join us.
[00:23:22] Azhelle Wade: Wow.
[00:23:23] Helen Townsend: Yeah. Yeah. ICTI is the Ethical Toy I'm going to say Program so they work with factories to certify them for ethical and environmental standards, so no child labor, no pollution, all of those things.
[00:23:40] So if you can find a factory that is ICTI certified. Certified. I'll send you the link so you can put it in. That's, they're really well respected as well and do really good work. You can work with them as well to make, to get them to assess your factory. So this obviously depends on the size of your company, whether you have the resources to do that.
[00:23:58] But yeah, they're [00:24:00] doing excellent work in the toy industry to improve the factory, the quality in the factory and the environmental impact.
[00:24:06] Azhelle Wade: I do have that link and so we have that link, I'll put it in the show notes, but I am curious , do you know if there's a clear list somewhere of the certified B Corp toy companies? I Googled it and I found a few, but I'm curious if there's just like a clear list.
[00:24:20] Helen Townsend: Oh, yeah. If you go to find a B Corp and then in the filters, you can click games and toys. And then if you put a worldwide that will come up with them.
[00:24:29] Azhelle Wade: We will be highlighting the toy companies
[00:24:31] Helen Townsend: Yeah.
[00:24:32] Azhelle Wade: B Corp then at the end
[00:24:33] Helen Townsend: Yeah, definitely. That's awesome. Yeah.
[00:24:36] Azhelle Wade: Okay, great. That's a great overview. So now we know. So just from this alone, we know how you can assess your carbon footprint, take steps to improve it and then offset it. And I have heard this before from watching John Oliver talking about, be careful about the carbon offsets you invest in because some of them are what you said, greenwashing where it's just.
[00:24:58] Lip service, [00:25:00] essentially, or pretending as though you're really making a difference when nothing would have changed either way. So, so that's a great advice. So just to wrap up this topic, this section of our interview, what impact do you hope to achieve through SustainFund's mission of growing climate , confident kids?
[00:25:18] Helen Townsend: well,
[00:25:18] We would like
[00:25:19] I mean, we have big Big goals and big
[00:25:22] to
[00:25:23] and big missions, but we would like
[00:25:24] see thing.
[00:25:52] Part 2
[00:25:53] Azhelle Wade: We are going to move on to our second topic where I want to focus a little bit on [00:26:00] World Sustainable Toy Day and promoting sustainability in the toy industry. So to start this conversation, first, I got to say you've established one of those holidays, one of the, like you've established a new holiday World Sustainable Toy Day.
[00:26:15] And when did that first, when was that first thing? It's inducted into the holiday calendar.
[00:26:21] Helen Townsend: So in 2022, that was our the first world sustainable toy day. And. It is the third Friday in November. So that's a week before Black Friday and that is chosen specifically because A week before Black Friday is a really good time to think about what you're buying. So yeah, so this year that falls on November the 15th
[00:26:45] Azhelle Wade: And what motivated you to establish World Sustainable Toy Day? Why was Earth Day, for instance, not enough?
[00:26:52] Helen Townsend: Yeah, so we, so as I said, like we're new to the toy industry, and when you come new from one industry, which we had come from science [00:27:00] backgrounds, and then through other sustainable businesses, reducing single use plastic. When you come into a new industry, you see it differently from people who'd been in the industry before.
[00:27:09] We could see that there was a Little things happening with sustainability.
[00:27:14] There were big companies doing things, but, and there were a ton of small companies doing things, but it didn't feel like there was anything to like, gather around. So we wanted to we thought there's got to be something, we've got to, there's got to be something out there that is specifically for the toy industry.
[00:27:30] So yeah, so we've set it and it already is a place where people can sort of come together and we can see what everybody is doing. It's been really picked up by toy libraries who of course are like the champions of sustainability because parents don't need to buy toys.
[00:27:47] Toys, they can go to the toy library,
[00:27:48] Azhelle Wade: What
[00:27:49] Helen Townsend: ah,
[00:27:49] Azhelle Wade: toy library?
[00:27:50] Helen Townsend: ah, toy, there's toy libraries all around the world. There's some in the US who are part of World Sustainable Toy Day. So a toy library is like a book library but for toys. So when you [00:28:00] have, it's especially for little kids, preschoolers when you have a child, instead of buying all of these toys, you can sign up to your local toy library and you can You go along with your child.
[00:28:10] You check out which toys you want. Some of them have a small fee, depending on how your toy library is, or you pay a subscription. Usually really low. In New Zealand it's 30 a year. And you,
[00:28:22] Azhelle Wade: checked one here, and it says 12 a month.
[00:28:26] Helen Townsend: Yeah and then you have a whole range of toys. And then you take them home for a week, and the next week you drop them off again. So this really combats that whole kids losing interest in a lot of their toys really quickly, because you can just go the next week and get another one. So, toy libraries are really great for community as well, and connecting parents with other parents, with little kids.
[00:28:47] And So I was at a toy library a couple of weeks ago and the parents like couldn't even leave because their kids were just playing with all the toys and the mum was standing at the gate she's are we going yet and the kids are like zooming around on [00:29:00] little bicycles and stuff having a really good time
[00:29:02] Azhelle Wade: Oh, that's lovely.
[00:29:03] So talk to me a little bit about World Sustainable Toy Day. How has it grown since you first launched it? Do you have planned events? Do you, what do you do on this day?
[00:29:13] Helen Townsend: yeah, so we were really surprised because we launched it like in September 2022, so only a couple months before November, and we had a hundred supporters all around the world like straight away, including like really big multinational toy companies and toy libraries and toy shops and that first year, everyone's what happens?
[00:29:34] The first year, the theme was toys that last. And so we had people posting pictures of the toys that have been in their family or at their toy library for for like multi generations or a really long time or companies that were making toys that are designed to last.
[00:29:51] More than one week. More than one year.
[00:29:54] And then we run events here and we usually run waste free water fights. [00:30:00] for schools and then we yeah, encourage people to sort of run your own event on the day or around the day. So there's things like toy shops, there's we have some activity sheets that are scavenger hunts, so you can go around a toy shop and find out what the toys are made of and that's suitable for your customers or for you to get an idea of how many of Toys are made from plastic, where they come from, and all of those things.
[00:30:26] Azhelle Wade: Fantastic.
[00:30:28] I'd like to get into, to more tips and insights into how you sourced eco friendly materials for your own toys. So,
[00:30:37] Helen Townsend: Yeah, when we started with the reusable water balloons, there wasn't any options . Firstly we had to choose what to make the water balloon from. And they're made from polyester, which is based, a plastic based yarn.
[00:30:54] And we've tried natural yarns natural products, but it didn't work. And [00:31:00] we want this to be made from recycled polyester. So what we do is keep on looking and keep on researching and so you don't necessarily have to be perfect straight away. But you have to keep improving.
[00:31:14] Azhelle Wade: The biggest struggle with sustainable toys is making sure you can match up and compete with the price of. Other products in the toy industry, but I also believe that if nobody takes this risk to go up against these prices to make a smaller puzzle box, even though it might have less perceived value for some people, then the industry is just never going to change.
[00:31:34] But at the same time, how do you manage having a business that I'm sure you need to stay profitable while understanding that you're not always going to be able to compete with all the products available in the market?
[00:31:44] Helen Townsend: We don't operate in the fast turnover section of the toy industry, and I think that's the important thing. So, people who want to buy some cheap plastic item that's gonna break, they're not our people. We don't sell [00:32:00] to those people.
[00:32:00] Sustainability in the toy industry is really being pushed by parents and consumers. So, we have to find the places that really understand what we're doing. And there, there are a lot of them. Things like the puzzle we sell for the same price.
[00:32:17] Basically, as other puzzles, we don't really find this a conflict because we, Are happy with the profit margins and we're happy with the products that we make and there's a ton of people who want sustainable products so you are getting customers for life. When you match your customers values like whether it's like Environmental or ethical or social when you match the values people are just so Pleased that there is a company that is talking to them.
[00:32:46] Azhelle Wade: What advice would you give for someone looking to start their journey to being more eco friendly in the toy industry? And specifically for people whose brands are not focused on being eco friendly. However, you know, [00:33:00] say they have a brand that's focused on mental, emotional, social health.
[00:33:02] Primarily. It's all about that. But, They're parents and they care about the world their kids growing up in. So they do want to make an eco friendly brand. What advice would you give to someone that's looking to be more sustainable, even if that's not the primary, value of their product or their brand?
[00:33:22] Helen Townsend: Yeah, I would say stay calm. . It's okay. . There is no need to panic there.
[00:33:29] You don't have to be perfect tomorrow. So what I would do is take a step back, look at your. Products, how you run your business, and then take some time to think about how you can incorporate sustainability into that. And that means next time you have ordering from your factory, can you make any changes?
[00:33:53] Can you start looking at sourcing from a different supplier or something that is more eco [00:34:00] friendly? When you're developing your next toy, that's a really good time to start thinking about it before you start. Take it one step at a time, take it slowly, do some research online, find your crowd if you join World Sustainable Toy Day, you can just come along, chat to us We can help you figure out how to design for the environment and how to start measuring your carbon emissions and stuff and i'll just yeah, take it one step at a time stay calm and go for a progressively getting better.
[00:34:31] Azhelle Wade: I'm reminded as we talk that once upon a time I did see It was actually a weight loss visualization tool that someone had made and where people could put in their decisions, like getting the bur the burger, not working out, eating the ice cream.
[00:34:45] And then you would see yourself in the future. Like it would take, it would change your appearance so that it w it was like this motivational tool because, you know, there's this psychological scenario that we all deal with where we see our future selves as a person we don't [00:35:00] know. We cannot relate to them. We're like, that's a whole separate person. Do you know of any tools that kind of may bring the future to the present and help people realize their impact and how just, you know, changing from 10 shipments to one could actually save a forest, like something like that.
[00:35:19] Helen Townsend: that is amazing. I don't, but I want that to be a thing.
[00:35:24] Azhelle Wade: Right, right. I did a quick Google while we were chatting and the only thing I found was the USGS's major climate change visualization tool, but it looks more like a heat map. Not so much what I was
[00:35:36] Helen Townsend: There are things.
[00:35:36] Azhelle Wade: listening knows of something like that, maybe send it
[00:35:39] Helen Townsend: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:35:40] Azhelle Wade: to the show notes.
[00:35:41] Helen Townsend: I'd like to know as well. That'd be amazing. If someone wants to make one,
[00:35:45] Azhelle Wade: The right.
[00:35:46] Helen Townsend: I mean, totally. I'd love to talk to them about that. That would be super if there's some like techie people.
[00:35:52] Azhelle Wade: In, in that vein, where can people listening to this episode, reach out to you to learn more about eco splat sustainable [00:36:00] fun, the world sustainable toy day, where can they reach out to you?
[00:36:05] Helen Townsend: The easiest way to reach out to us is sustainedfun.com.
[00:36:19] so we have a Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. So you can jump on there and see what we're up to.
[00:36:25] And my LinkedIn, I'm on there a bit as well. So that's just Helen Townsend.
[00:36:29] So I'd love to talk to people.
[00:36:31] Azhelle Wade: Fantastic.
[00:36:32] We will put all of the links to Sustained Fun, to the World Sustainable Toy Day in our show notes. So if you can't write anything down right now, cause maybe you're driving or you're working out, just remember to head over to thetoycoach. com, but before I let you go, Helen, I'm going to take you back to the past for my closing question of what toy or game blew your mind as a kid.
[00:36:53] Helen Townsend: Oh, do you know, I had these, I don't know if you had these I mean,
[00:36:57] I
[00:36:57] had these glow bugs. They were these [00:37:00] little plastic
[00:37:01] glow worms
[00:37:02] And they came in this little sleepy bag. And then at night they would glow. I mean, I don't think they did anything else. I mean,
[00:37:08] maybe there's
[00:37:08] Azhelle Wade: how, hold on, we're going to have to share screen because now I need to know if I found the right one. Is it these?
[00:37:17] Helen Townsend: Oh, yeah! That's so
[00:37:20] Azhelle Wade: Wait, these little ones right here?
[00:37:22] Yeah.
[00:37:23] Oh my I had two of them. I I didn't have two of many toys. I don't know why I had two glow bugs. I must have been really
[00:37:30] I have never seen these. They are so funny.
[00:37:34] Helen Townsend: They are so cute.
[00:37:35] They weren't 70 back in the day. That's for sure. Oh yeah, I had that little one. That pink and blue
[00:37:41] Azhelle Wade: Yes, oh my gosh, and they would glow.
[00:37:44] Helen Townsend: they glow at night.
[00:37:45] Azhelle Wade: That is so cute. Oh my gosh, this is such a cute item. This is by
[00:37:50] Helen Townsend: know.
[00:37:51] Azhelle Wade: Oh, there's,
[00:37:51] Helen Townsend: so
[00:37:52] Azhelle Wade: these ones have the, these ones have the sleeping bags.
[00:37:56] Helen Townsend: Yeah, the little sleeping bag. So funny. I [00:38:00] don't even know what that is.
[00:38:01] I don't know
[00:38:02] Azhelle Wade: I think these are so cute.
[00:38:04] so cute.
[00:38:05] Oh my gosh, this is, oh man. Oh my, here
[00:38:09] Helen Townsend: ridiculous. I really liked
[00:38:13] my global. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:38:19] Azhelle Wade: Oh man, that
[00:38:20] Helen Townsend: Yeah.
[00:38:21] Azhelle Wade: Thank you so much for sharing that. Oh, that's awesome.
[00:38:24] put
[00:38:25] Helen Townsend: it out in ages.
[00:38:26] You
[00:38:38] Azhelle Wade: with. So whether it's the FSC, whether you're going to become yourself a B Corp certified business, or you're going to work with the ethical toy program to make sure that your factories are meeting all the standards.
[00:38:50] Those are some things that you can do. We talked about how to look at your own carbon footprint and either reduce it or offset it in various ways. [00:39:00] And of course, we talked about sustained fun and work. World sustainable toy day, which is in November of 2024. It's actually November 15th, 2024 this year. So I hope you'll partake in that.
[00:39:12] And again, head over to the toy coach. com for the show notes from this episode. If you love this podcast and you haven't already left us a review, what are you waiting for? Your reviews are super important. They keep me and our wonderful guests like Helen coming back week after week.
[00:39:26] And every time a new review comes in, I do get notified and it puts a huge smile on my face. Face. So you can leave a review wherever you're listening to this podcast, or if you can't find the review section, head over to the toy coach. com forward slash review. As always, thank you so much for spending this time with me today.
[00:39:43] I know your time is valuable and that there are a ton of podcasts out there. So it means the world to me that you tune into this one until next week. I'll see you later. Toy people. [00:40:00]
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