Play Press Toys have developed new and innovative zero waste packaging for their products. The toys have always been eco-friendly and non-toxic and this was the logical next step for the company to take.
Play Press Toys have always delivered products in limited amounts of packaging, reducing the need to throw large boxes away once the toy has been unpacked or unwrapped. The existing products and packaging are all plastic free.
The new zero waste packaging will make use of the off cut sheets that the toys are pressed out of. It was a natural progression that followed on from customer feedback. Children and parents had already been using the off cut sheets to ‘store’ the toys after use.
“We have iterated and taken customer feedback and tried out a bunch of ideas. Our goal has always been to use less materials. We found that kids loved to put pieces back in the off cut sheets and that parents were using them as travel toys. So we always wanted packaging that could act as a box to store the pieces and we found we kinda had it already in the sheets that the pieces come with. We love to make things and to try ideas out and our process involves making loads of prototypes and just trying things.”
Play Press Toys
The first set to be produced with zero waste packaging is the Savannah Animals play set with African endangered animals like lion, giraffe, rhino, elephant and others like zebra, meerkats, gazelle and birds include ostrich, oxpeckers and hornbills. This popular product now comes in a lightweight flatpack carryall. The plastic free packaging is reusable to store the toys and once it reaches the end of its usefulness is fully biodegradable.
The next set to receive a zero waste makeover will be the Tower Bridge set. Every new product at Play Press is an improvement on the previous product. Developing new products and even packaging is a creative process that is fun and engaging for the creative team at Play Press. They have developed packaging that transforms into a box and packaging that becomes a scene.
They say “We just want to make the product as good as possible. We’ve always wanted to have a standard set of sizes, but pretty much every time we come to make a new set we’ve thought of a different and hopefully better way to pack them.”
The company has a whole range of products in the pipeline including a Room on the Broom collaboration with Julia Donaldson characters. They already make The Gruffalo and The Zog sets, based on her books. Other licensed products include the Dinosaur Roar and Shaun the Sheep sets. Their range also includes dinosaurs, farmyard, rescue team, pirate and space sets. And by purchasing the RNLI sets, you can help Play Press to support them with a donation.
Play Press Toys can be purchased directly from the online shop or from leading retailers, visitor attractions, museums and galleries.
Play Press are an active member of Blue Patch’s sustainable community. If you run a sustainable business and would like to be part of our sustainable business hub, apply for membership now.
