Surprisingly, toys are the most intensive users of plastics: 90% of toys for babies and toddlers are made out of plastic and have an average lifetime of only 6 months. ecoBirdy was born to give these plastic toys a new life! In the creative and experiential process, children are taught about circular economy. Charlie is not just a chair, it is a truly sustainable educational furniture.
Surprisingly, toys are the most intensive users of plastics: 90% of toys for babies and toddlers are made out of plastic and have an average lifetime of only 6 months. ecoBirdy was born to give these plastic toys a new life! In the creative and experiential process, children are taught about circular economy. Charlie is not just a chair, it is a truly sustainable educational furniture.
Charlie is not just a chair. It is the story of thousands of unused toys that have been recycled and redesigned into a comfy ergonomic chair for children starting from 18 months. Kids learn about how they can contribute to a better future through this sustainable educational furniture.
The whole idea behind ecoBirdy was to reduce the sea of plastic by producing Charlie, but also empowering kids to care for a more sustainable future. And there are fair reasons to do so: children are the future and they have an incredible power to create an impact for good. Awareness, education and inspiration is the perfect combination for them to truly care for a more sustainable planet and to make the most of our earth’s precious resources.
But wait, there is so much more ecoBirdy does! The first collection of sustainable furniture also includes a table called Luisa, Rhino a lamp shaped like a rhinoceros and Kiwi, a kiwi bird shaped container.
ecoBirdy starts the journey of recycling the toys of the kids in the schools they visit. When running the programs, they collect old, unused and broken plastic toys into the collection container. By doing so they step into the first stage of learning about plastic waste and recycling.
Then, a boost of inspiration. ecoBirdy’s storybook introduces youngsters to the circular economy and ways to contribute to a more sustainable future.
And finally, children level up to experience creativity in full when they look at Charlie. The chair is a colourful eye-catcher, a recognisable product of recycling. The magic flakes are those little elements that once used to be their old toys; recognising them in the piece of furniture helps them to gain a better understanding of the upcycling process the toys have been through.
Last but not least, during the program parents and children are asked to leave their contact when bringing the toys to recycle. As soon as they have been given a new life they receive an email from ecoBirdy, which allows to further extend awareness about plastic. It is also a way of thanking them for their thoughtful contribution, as well as exercising transparency.
Charlie’s production process: not easy but worth it!
A collection of sustainable educational furniture made of 100% recycled plastic is not easy. There is a lot of effort in guaranteeing safety and insisting on high quality. This makes it more complicated and difficult than making new design furniture from virgin plastic.
Even further, ecoBirdy undertakes the whole process in Europe: from the collection to the recycling of old, unused plastic toys as well as the design and production of furniture pieces. Also, the collection of kids’ furniture pieces is entirely made of recycled plastic from European waste.
All products are made of ecothylene® which is an innovative material developed by ecoBirdy. Basically, it consists in separating the recycled plastic by colour. It goes through an accurate sorting, cleaning and grinding during the recycling process, the plastic is pure and clean.
Flakes from recycled plastic toys add a unique touch of colour to the pieces, each product has a unique look.
Plastic facts worth knowing
When it comes to plastic, usually everybody’s first thought is packaging, mainly for food and beverage. Reading in-depth statistics and reports about plastic we found out it is plastic toys though that play a significant role.
- Toys are the most intensive users of plastics amongst consumer goods, about 15 times higher than the plastic used in food packaging.
- The plastic of only one piece of toy is comparable to 500 bottle caps.
- 90% of toys for babies and toddlers between the age of 0-3 years are made of plastic.
- 40% of these toys have a lifetime of only 4 months.
- Usual plastic toys are not widely recycled, in the UK 8.5 million new and usable toys are landfilled every single year.
- The lifetime of their toys, therefore, is – in most cases – no longer than only 4 months.
ecoBirdy AWARDS in 2018
Just launched in January 2018, ecoBirdy is looking back at a successful first year winning five international design prizes and being invited by more than ten exhibitions and museums to showcase pieces of its debut collection.
“A simply wonderful design story, a project that will influence the prosperity of our world” Australia Good Design Award 2018
The awards Ecobirdy has accumulated in one year are:
Australia Good Design Award 2018, Category Outstanding Design and Innovation, Winner for “its outstanding Design and Innovation”
Play It Green Award 2018 by affili.com, Winner
Innovation Award 2018 by Kind & Jugend Fair, Nominated
German Design Award 2019, Category Product Design, Winner for the “excellent design”
Blickfang Design Preis 2018, Designmesse 2018 Bern, Winner
Henry van de Velde Award 2019, Category Ecodesign, Winner
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