Homeless Huggables' mission to divert soft toys from landfill

Millions of soft plush toys end up in landfill every year. Now, a NSW company is on a mission to rehome pre-loved toys.

Transcript

00:00These pre-loved and lonely bears are on their way to finding their forever homes, thanks

00:06to the efforts of three expert toy restorers at Homeless Huggables.

00:10The company is on a mission to divert soft toys from landfill.

00:15Most bears or most pre-owned plush toys, they've only been loved or in a home for about three

00:19months before they're discarded, and it's what to do with all of these toys that are

00:24just being consumed every day in Australia, and 2.6 million going into landfill.

00:31When I read that stat a couple of Christmases ago, I knew it was time to try and do something

00:35about it.

00:36Now the mouth can be stitched on, and they say that the expression he gets, happy, coy, romantic

00:41or cheeky, depends on the mood of the girl who's doing the stitching.

00:45This time the girl and Teddy are both well pleased, as he sets off to meet the brisk massage which

00:50puts him into perfect shape.

00:52I've always had an affinity towards bears and soft plush toys.

00:57I remember even as a teenager, I'd go to stores like Spotlight, and I'd always want to buy

01:02the ones that were damaged, that were missing legs or had broken ears because I was terrified

01:07that somehow they would end up in the bin and they wouldn't be able to find their home.

01:10But what I started to realize as I got older, when I started learning more about the environmental

01:15impact of a lot of consumerism, one thing that kind of flew under the radar for a long time

01:21was plush toys.

01:22But when you think about it, as cute as they are on their exterior, they're made of polyester

01:28and plastics.

01:29And because of the way they're put together, so intricately put with stitching and glass

01:33beads and plastic noses and their fur and their stuffing, they're very hard to recycle

01:38because you can't extract all these different components to recycle them properly.

01:42So they end up in either landfill or being incinerated, like that very memorable moment on Toy Story.

01:48We bring them in.

02:18We give them a spa day, so they're all washed and cleaned.

02:20And when they go out to their new homes, they've got swing tags, they've got all the things

02:24that you'd expect to see with new, but obviously they're secondhand, so they have their story

02:28to tell.

02:29But some of them we can have for up to about three or four weeks, depending on the lineup

02:33of surgeries before them and how much their surgeries need.

02:37So ordering glass eyes, for instance, if you've got to get the exact one that matches theirs,

02:42then we will spend some time searching online to find the right eye or we'll just rehang them

02:47with mismatched eyes and that just makes them more of a personality and more to love.