A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
'Twas a time after New Year's, and all through the house, the floor was littered with Legos. Ouch, ouch and ouch. The children's bedroom is a plush animal zoo, and parents are wondering just what they can do.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
I think what A is trying to say is...
MARTÍNEZ: Sounds clear to me.
FADEL: (Laughter) As you're packing up the holiday decor, what to do about any toys that have been nudged out of the rotation by something newer and shinier? Rhonda Collins knows a thing or two about misfit toys.
RHONDA COLLINS: There really is a very big issue when it comes to toys, principally because about 80% of them are made with plastics and plastics that are really hard to recycle.
MARTÍNEZ: Collins is the CEO of Toycycle, one of a number of online stores where parents can buy and sell used toys on consignment. And she says millions of toys hit landfills around the world each year, and she wants to change that.
COLLINS: We attempt to divert toys that have been returned to brands or manufacturers because often those will hit the waste stream as well. So we try to, you know, resell, recycle, upcycle anything that's possible with any given product to keep it out of the waste stream.
FADEL: She says upcycling is something you can try at home.
COLLINS: Toy upcycling would be when there is a toy that, for whatever reason, may not be useful as a toy any longer. And we will attempt to find ways where that item can be used in some other way. It might be used by an artist in an art piece. It might be that the wood or some component parts are reclaimed from that product and used in something entirely different.
FADEL: If the toy can't be donated, recycling properly is a good choice, even if some plastic parts can't be processed by your local recycling program.
MARTÍNEZ: Tom Szaky is founder and CEO of TerraCycle.
TOM SZAKY: We run a number of free toy recycling programs where, you know, we pick up the toys, get them recycled, thanks to the funding of various toy companies.
MARTÍNEZ: But Szaky says buying toys that last is the better choice.
SZAKY: Look, I have four little kids myself between the age of 2 and 10. So I'm very much, you know, not just a solution provider but a parent in this, you know, as well. The most important thing we need to think about is actually what we purchase - right? - what enters our home to begin with. And I would really recommend to think about how to buy toys that will be more timeless.
MARTÍNEZ: And he says giving that Gumby to Goodwill or another nonprofit is also worth doing. Leila, I'm still waiting for my Flash toy for the holidays.
FADEL: Are you saying I should've gotten you that?
MARTÍNEZ: It hasn't arrived.
FADEL: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. I'm looking at you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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