Let’s learn from Charlotte Liebling, the creator of Loved Before, on what to do with old stuffed animals.
I’m sure we have all had at least one stuffed animal as a kid! But do you remember what happened to it once you grew up? Most probably it ended up in the trash can.
We don’t really think much about a toy, but these stuffed animals have a major impact on the environment. Around 80% of all toys worldwide end up in landfills, accounting for 6% of the entire global plastic waste.
Most of these toys are made of plastic pellets or synthetic fabrics, which can take ages to decompose.
And Charlotte Liebling from London, UK, had a similar thought while working at a thrift store around eight years ago.
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As someone obsessed with plush toys, she was saddened and told the Washington Post about the huge mounds of donated plush toys and stuffies being finally put into trash cans.
Being an avid collector, who still finds solace in her toys, Liebling attaches a high emotional and sentimental value on them.
Two years later, she thought of finding a new purpose for these previously owned toys. To bring her ideas to reality, she started “Loved Before,” an eco-friendly “soft-toy adoption agency,” in 2019.
She encouraged people to donate their used stuffed animals to Loved Before. Once received, they clean and refurbish the toys before reselling them online for around $10 to $15 plus shipping.
In the last five years, Liebling has collected and resold around 60,000 toys and these plushies are available at three Selfridges department stores across England.
People can either send these plush toys by postal mail or drop them off at Loved Before’s Bedfordshire office. Several other resale stores also donate their pre-owned stuffed animals to the charity.
Liebling donates around half of her earnings to other charities, and this year, some of the money will help support Make-a-Wish UK.
Almost 95% of all the donated plushies to Loved Before are reusable, while those that seem unsafe are recycled.
Liebling says, that however worn out or old the toys might look, she can still find them new homes.
After receiving, all the plushies are given a high-temperature steam cleaning and if required they are added more stuffing or repaired based on their condition.
A brief background of the plushie along with its description is mentioned on the website of Loved Before.
Liebling and her team renovate and refresh at least 50-100 stuffed animals every day. And every stuffie takes about one to five hours of work before posting it on their website.
Every Monday new toys are added to the existing batch and most of them are sold out on the same day.
Liebling sells her toys to around 25 countries across the world with the United States being at the no. 2 position after Britain. She looks forward to setting up a center in the United States soon.
Liebling believes in giving “secondhand a second chance,” and a child would never be able to tell if a toy is brand new or gently used.
Loved Before has many happy customers posting great reviews of shopping guilt-free plushies from the store.
This answers the earlier question well, and you now know for sure what to do with old stuffed animals.
