If your children no longer play with their toys, don’t throw them away. If they are still in decent shape, toys can have a second life if you donate them to charity.
This keeps them out of landfills, conserves valuable resources, and helps low-income families to purchase toys that would otherwise be out of reach for their children.
Why Donate Toys?
Donating toys is a great idea for multiple reasons! Not only will you be able to declutter your house but you will also be doing the environment a big favor!
Reduce Environmental Pollution
Plastic is the most common material used in the production of toys. Toy manufacturing is, in reality, the world’s most plastic-intensive business. Even those that aren’t, such as wooden toys, may fail to biodegrade in landfills due to environmental factors, such as a lack of air.
As a result of donating old toys you save raw materials and there will be less pollution and hazardous chemicals discharged into the sky.
Save Raw Materials
Donating reduces waste while also conserving valuable raw materials. If you donate your toys, it’s unlikely that the happy recipient will go out and buy more. When you multiply this by hundreds of thousands, you have less waste in landfills and cluttering our world, as well as fewer new plastic toys being made.
Help Other Families
Donating unused toys is another excellent approach to assist people. From families in need to individuals with disabilities, there are a plethora of organizations out there who are doing everything they can to help.
Your toy gift can not only help support their operations, but it can also provide low-income families with cheap toys for their children. Modern democracy depends on this sense of belonging and faith in society.
Where to donate toys?
It is far better for the environment to give used toys to worthwhile charities rather than simply tossing perfectly good toys out. To the uninformed, though, this may appear to be more difficult than it looks.
Because of allergies, cleanliness, or health concerns, certain establishments, such as hospitals or childcare facilities, may not accept old toys. Other locations may simply require certain types that are simple to clean.
At FFLG, we don’t accept toy donations, but here are a few ways to donate toys so that it doesn’t end up in our landfills.
While you may not immediately discover a good option to donate your used toys, we encourage being consistent, looking around in your community, and checking out all of our recommendations here.
Social Enterprises
Two of the most well-known charities that accept toy contributions are the Salvation Army and Goodwill. However, before you arrive, make sure your local bank accepts toy donations by calling ahead.
Toys are frequently given straight to less privileged children by such organizations, or the toys are sold and the revenues are used to further the organization’s goals towards helping children or the underprivileged.
You may contribute toys to a qualified charity or nonprofit organization and deduct them from your taxes as an added bonus.
Hospitals
Many hospitals accept used toys for their hospitalized children to play with while they are undergoing treatment. Your local hospital’s website may offer a toy wish list that you may check for specific requirements.
Before bringing a package of toys to a medical institution, make sure you check with them first. Some won’t accept anything that isn’t brand new, citing the risk of disease transmission from used toys.
Fire Departments and Police Station
Small toys, generally plush animals, are frequently carried by police officers and firemen to console terrified and injured youngsters on the scene. In order to offer this service, most local governments rely on donations from the public.
So get in touch with your local police services to see if they’d appreciate some carefully used toys. Departments are frequently used as drop-off places for toys, coats, and other contributions during the holidays.
Toy Libraries
If your community has a toy library, phone to see if they are presently collecting contributions. Toys that are easy to clean, sturdy, and robust are often preferred.
Toy libraries are a terrific way for kids to play with a variety of toys without having to throw them away when they become bored or outgrow them. It’s also less expensive for parents, and it makes for a fun excursion for the kids to select their next gift.
Donating your old toys to your local toy library will bring joy to many children in your community.
Religious groups and Social Services
Local religious facilities frequently provide childcare services to a range of youngsters during prayers and other activities, ranging from newborns to school-aged children. Find out what a local house of worship requires by contacting them. If it isn’t currently collecting toy contributions, there’s a good likelihood it will be able to refer you to a respectable organization that will.
Your local social services department would most likely be able to put you in touch with a range of youngsters who enjoy playing with your used children’s toys. Find out what your local department requires and where you may donate by contacting them. Other children’s things, such as shoes and clothes, may also be required.
Donating old toys for recycling and reusing is great but you can always be more conscious about where you buy your children’s toys too. While shopping for toys for your children you can choose brands or social enterprises that are eco-friendly and employ local mothers and aunties, like BeeBee and Bongo! Being more aware of where your children’s toys are coming from is more important than you may think!
Final Thoughts
It is undeniably healthier for the environment to keep toys out of landfills. Passing on your unused toys saves families money and makes kids happy by reducing the amount of energy and materials used to make toys.
You can give your unused toys a fresh start while also helping the environment by using the resources suggested in this article.
While we don’t accept toy donations, we are working on our mission to eradicate child hunger all over the world through vegan food. We’ve served over 7 billion meals so far through our charitable foundation.
Make an online donation to FFLG today to help children who are in need today.
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Hello Ann,
Thank you for contacting Food for Life Global.
We greatly appreciate your kind intention to donate toys to children in need. Depending on your location we may be able to send them to the affiliate project closest to your location. Please contact us through our contact form to discuss this in more detail, visit the following link to access the form: http://ffl.org/contact/