Stuffed toys can be difficult to give away for sentimental reasons, but also because not many charities want used stuffed toys. So what can you do once your children outgrow their stuffed toys other than throw them in the trash?
This podcast will give you ideas on:
- How to give a better gift than a conventional stuffed toy
- Places where you can bring toys if you don’t want to creatively reuse them
- Stories about creative reuse artists who have done incredible things with stuffed toys
- Project ideas if you’d like to remake your stuffed toys into new items
You can listen to my podcast episode on creative reuse of stuffed toys in this YouTube video. It originally aired in May 2017. It is the second most popular episode of Trashmagination podcast after the one on toilet paper rolls with more than 700 downloads as of June 2023.
Stuffed toys fall into the recycling category of textiles, and only 15 percent of textiles are donated for reuse or recycling in the United States according to the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART). The average American family throws away 324 pounds of unwanted textiles per year, including stuffed toys.
Creatively Reuse Stuffed Toys – Resources
- World Play Day – May 28
- Stats on how many textiles Americans throw away
- Cotton Monster – Jennifer Strunge, an artist who makes stuffed toys from recycled materials in Baltimore, Maryland
- Abby Glassenberg’s blog on the legal considerations of making toys from recycled materials
- Abby’s podcast with a stuffed toy maker in England and European regulations related to making stuffed toys
- Stuffstr – a free app for selling or donating unwanted stuff
- Hosting a community charity carnival with stuffed toys for prizes
- Stuffed Animals for Emergencies – an organization that takes new or nearly new toys
- Gleaning for the World – host “Teddy Bear Brigade” to collect stuffed toys for charity
- Textile recycling vendors who can help you organize a textile drive
- Terracycle Zero Waste Boxes
Artists Who Inspired this Podcast
- Chinami Mori, 1000Wave
- Sherri Lynn Wood
- The Recology Artist Residency
- Agustina Woodgate
- Mike Kelley
- Geoffrey Ricardo
- Second Life Toys
Projects You Can Make with Recycled Stuffed Toys
- Trashmagination’s Stuffed Toy Pinterest Board
- Stuffed toy purse or backpack
- Stuffed toy scarf
- Pet bed from a large stuffed toy
- Puffy chair from many small stuffed toys
- Book of Monsters craft from Harry Potter
Show Details
- Script for this podcast episode about creative reuse of stuffed toys (not a transcript but gives the main ideas)
- The Trashmagination podcast theme music is Kitchen from the Marian Circle Drum Brigade.
