In the current waste management system there is no proper destination for toys, mostly ending up in landfills or incinerated, even though most plastic and other materials they are made of are recyclable.
Toys are not currently recycled because they are composed of a multitude of different materials that are hard to take apart, complicating any recycling process.
As such, it is critical to incentivise public discussion, in Portugal and beyond, regarding the lack of solutions for end-of-life toys and, above all, propose solutions that address their entire lifecycle.
Born from this ambition, the pilot project REPLAY set in 2021 the foundations for developing a national collection and recycling system in Portugal for end-of-life toys, first launched in 5 municipalities.
Guided by the objectives of a circular economy, part of the collected plastic was recycled into new toys, avoiding the use of new resources while elevating play! Yet much more is possible!
Together, let’s rethink and reinvent the universe of toys!
For recycling to occur, toys must first be taken apart to retrieve all different materials!
REPLAY invites all families to initiate this process at home, in order to facilitate the recycling of old toys into new objects.
Participate with toys.
During the 2021 kickoff campaign, we had 44 collection points in 11 towns in Portugal. Mostly places like zero waste stores, to incentivize better conscious purchases.
We are actively endeavoring to launch a second REPLAY 2.0 campaign. Stay tuned!
During dismantling at home, participants are invited to do a first count of all different materials composing a toy. Afterwards, teams of volunteers verify these numbers, contributing to the first ever gathering of quantitative and qualitative data regarding toy materials and their recyclability in Portugal.
Support us as a volunteer.
Replay challenged Product Design students from ESAD - Escola Superior de Design e Artes in Matosinhos and from Escola de Artes da Universidade de Évora, to develop a design concept for a new toy, that was voted for by a jury composed of design experts alongside 260 children.
The plastic collected was forwarded to the 5 Labs, to be used in the creation of a new toy from the project winning the design challenge - the toy “OIO”. To do so the plastic was first separated and cleansed, then grinded into small pieces and later melted into the molds by injection, extrusion and compression, which resulted into new toys. In the future, other molds may be developed, for the creation of different objects that may serve local communities.
Some of the plastic was sent to Extruplas to be transformed into a new box - the “Troquedo” - to be placed in kids playgrounds in order to promote the exchange of toys in good conditions among families, stimulating the practice of sharing and community spirit.
Upcycling solutions are favored for all remaining materials - metal, rubber, card, fabric, batteries, electric circuits, before being sent for recycling. Always open to new suggestions.
Replay invites specialists, politicians, industrials, activists, artists, among others, to share their knowledge, visions and concerns, in order to elevate the public and political discussion around the quality of toys and the quality of play.
Check the program and videos.
Increase environmental awareness and the co-creation of innovative solutions for waste reduction, encouraging networking and mobilizing the various members of civil society - families, associations, students, companies, creatives, scientific community, municipalities. Democratize access to adequate information about materials, so as to ensure conscious and safe consumption.
Reassess the life cycle of toys at the systemic level, in relation to the 5Rs of the approach Zero Waste namely: Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Repair and Recycle. Encourage reparability and repair initiatives, reducing various levels of waste. Promote toy sharing and greater community interaction and cohesion at the local level.
Create sustainable technological solutions for the creative transformation of plastic from toys and empower Precious Plastic Portugal communities in Portugal. To develop new design objects made from recycled plastic and give end-of-life toys a sustainable destiny.
O REPLAY is a project of Zero Waste Lab and Precious Plastic Portugal, which has a wide network of partners and the support of Novo Banco.
O ZERO WASTE LAB (ZWL) is a non-profit environmental organization born in 2017 with the mission of promoting the concept of Zero Waste and contribute constructively in the transition to a future without waste. It takes Zero Waste as a philosophy, inspired by nature's ability to transform what does not serve one as food for another, means going beyond minimizing negative impact, seeking regenerative participation and positive legacy. Not only in the mitigation of waste production, but also in the power of influence of each and every entity in its circuit and relationships, as a mobilizing example to its peers and customers. Movement generates movement.
O PRECIOUS PLASTIC PORTUGAL (PPPT) is a project developed by OPOLAB since 2016 that is part of the global community of Precious Plastic | One Army - hundreds of people who are dedicated to finding solutions to fight plastic pollution. Knowledge, tools and techniques are shared online on an open-source basis. Besides manufacturing plastic recycling machines, they also develop new equipment solutions, and seek challenges in different areas such as product design, architecture and other applications for recycled plastic. They offer training and awareness activities with experimentation and learning how the machines work, design development, mold making and prototyping.
Discover our network of partners and national supporters!
- NOVO BANCO - Contas com Gestos que Contam
- Câmara Municipal de Cascais
- Município de Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo
- Câmara Municipal de Porto
- Câmara Municipal de Évora
- Câmara Municipal de Lisboa
- Precious Plastic Portugal no OpoLab - Porto
- Plataforma de Ciência Aberta em Fig. Castelo Rodrigo
- ARTERIA_LAB
- Recycle Lab na Universidade de Arquitectura de Lisboa
- Claro Cascais na JF Cascais Estoril
- ESAD - Escola Superior de Arte e Design de Matosinhos
- Universidade de Évora
- NUCTA- Núcleo Universitário de Ciências e Tecnologia do Ambiente da Universidade do Porto
- Jardim de Infância/ Escola do 1ºCEB do Agrupamento de Escolas de Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo
- Escola do 2ºCEB do Agrupamento de Escolas de Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo
- Escola do 3ºCEB e Secundário do Agrupamento de Escolas de Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo
- Escola Básica do 1º CEB de Escalhão
- Jardim de Infância / Escola do 1º CEB de Reigada
- Jardim de Infância / Escola do 1º CEB de Vermiosa
- AE Manuel Ferreira Patrício (Évora) - 3º ano da EB Sra. da Glória
- AE Gabriel Pereira (Évora) - 3º ano da EB Heróis de Ultramar
- AE Severim de Faria (Évora) - 3º ano da EB Horta das Figueiras
- AE André de Gouveia (Évora) - 3º ano da Escola Galopim de Carvalho
- Escola Aprendizes Cascais
- 100% ADN
- Agrupamento de Escuteiros 12 - Dume - Braga
- Casa da Freguesia de Escalhão
- Associação Humanitária dos Bombeiros Voluntários Figueirenses
- Fundação D. Ana Paula Águas Vaz de Mascarenhas e Garcia e Doutor Álvaro Augusto Garcia
- Associação Académica da Universidade de Évora
- O Papeleiro Doido
- Lemonjelly, Procalçado SA
- Henrique Netto
Big thanks to everyone for their availability!
See list here.