Rattles, toy trains, shape sorters, stacking cups… In its workshops located near Oyonnax (Ain), Simple Toy conceives and designs “single-material” toys in recycled plastic, without screws, glue or adhesives, which will last a long time time after Santa has passed. The young SME has in fact developed a deposit system that works with a QR code and which allows the manufactured toys to be recovered once the child has outgrown them.
Because, in the world of early childhood, everything goes very quickly. Pierre Véron, founding director of Simple Toy, who spent eight years in the world of games before creating his company, was able to verify this. “At early age, there is an overabundance of toys on offer and hardly ever used or inappropriate for the child’s awakening. Most of them are complex, designed with different materials, light, music… It’s absurd. »
When the toy is returned, the customer recovers 15% of the sale price
To combat this waste, Simple Toy, which has produced 30,000 toys since its creation a year and a half ago, offers its customers to send them back once the object has become obsolete for the child. “This is the very definition of eco-design: thinking about the end of the product’s life from its design,” explains Pierre Véron. The return of the delivered toy is free for the customer, who recovers 15% of the sale price, or an average of 3 euros re-credited or in the form of a voucher.
“If the toy is too damaged, it is crushed and its material reused to make another one. If it’s in good condition, it’s reconditioned and put back into the second-hand circuit”, specifies the company manager. The Simple Toy hopes to reduce the consumption of plastic material as much as possible. To facilitate returns, the young SME is working on setting up collection terminals. “People are happy to buy our toys,” assures Pierre Véron. We really like the idea of recycling rather than throwing away. »
