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Instead of letting these perfectly good toys go to waste, we have decided to hold a toy appeal in our local schools where people can donate toys that are no longer used but are still in good condition to children in Cork who are in need. We have seen that households with children who have grown up have toys that are in good condition but are simply no longer used or needed. So, instead of letting these toys go to waste, we want to save them and donate them to children who are not as fortunate as others and do not have access to toys. By doing this, we are helping the environment and putting smiles on children's faces!
Our Social Issue
Our issue of social concern is sustainability and children in need. Sustainability through the upcycling of toys that are no longer used. A frightful 26.8 million toys are thrown away across the globe every year and 80% of toys end up in landfill, incinerators, or the ocean. In Ireland, 500 tons of plastic waste is generated by toys every year and 90% of toys sold globally are made of plastic
Why We Chose It
We chose this because we believe that all children, no matter their situation, deserve to have toys to play with. We believe that every child should have equal opportunities. We want to make our project special, and we knew we could tackle another social issue as well as this one. This is why we decided instead of buying new toys that would have massive amounts of plastic packaging that would end up in landfill or incinerators, we would ask the people in our local schools to donate their old toys that they no longer use.
Our Goal
Our big idea is to hold a toy appeal, asking our fellow students and teachers to donate old, unused toys in their households to be upcycled. The upcycling involves cleaning the toys with safe and environmentally friendly supplies, sewing, and painting them when needed. We hope that by doing this, we save some perfectly good toys from ending up in landfills, oceans etc and then can give them to children across Cork who are in need.
Our Innovative Action
We made an awareness campaign around the school about toys waste and plastic used. We held a successful toy appeal in our school. We pitch to the YSI Den We made contact with multiple organisations to ask for advice and find a place for the upcycled toys. We started assesing toys from the toys appeal. We started cleaning toys and separating the ones that are in very good conditions to the ones that need repairing.
Our Impact
We feel that we have, and will continue to make a positive influence in many ways. We have spread awareness about how much toys go to waste every year across the globe and in Ireland and how that impacts our environment immensly and shown people how easy it is to upcycle or donate toys that they no longer use rather than to just thrown them away. We have not completed our project yet, but when we do we hope to make many children happy and have a worthwhile impact on their lives.