This French company dismantles plush toys and recycles the materials to produce original new products.
COMPANY NAME
R-TEDDY
COUNTRY
FRANCE
SECTOR
Industry
CIRCULAR BUSINESS MODEL
Collect used plush toys, sell products made with material from dismantling plush toys.
CHALLENGE
Every year in France, people throw more than 5 500 tonnes of plush toys and there’s no recycling solution. Existing collectors (Emmaüs, Le Relais..) don’t know what to do with these plush toys and are waiting for solutions.
R-Teddy was created in order to fill in the recycling gap in France.
The objective is to dismantle the plush toys and to recycle the materials to produce original new products.
This project is not only a circular economy project but has also a social dimension. The plush toys are indeed sorted and dismantled by workers with disabilities or through professional integration.
SOLUTION
R-TEDDY sells brown, red and pink plush toy skins and stuffing to produce acoustic correction panels and decorative objects for children rooms.
IMPACT
Environmental impact
Recycle 4 tonnes in 2024, 8 tonnes in 2025. Target in 2034: recycle 50% of the 5 500 tonnes that are currently incinerated in France.
Economic impact
Generate jobs for disabled adults and people from integration projects.
Social impact
3 partners (professional integration associations and workshop for disabled adults) to sort and dismantle the plush toys
KEY TAKEAWAY
The sales of decoration objects and stuffing and plush skins for acoustic panels are off to a good start.
The company must act on several improvement points:
- Work to find other solutions for the other colours of plush toys.
- Increase the productivity of dismantling plush toys, witha cutting machine.
- Reduce the transport costs and carbon emissions buying a suitable press machine
- Enhance the partnership with the help centre for disabled adults by installing our workshop in their premises
- Work to find other solutions for the other colours of plush toys.