Toy Library Federation – tackling the hidden cost of play
Toys contribute to every kids’ enjoyment and learning, but there’s an environmental downside to toy production that the Toy Library Federation of New Zealand is helping to address through its policies and the rationale behind the libraries’ existence.
Federation national coordinator and Rangiora resident Lauren Lincoln is well aware that almost all toys worldwide are made from plastic and are likely to end up in landfill. She says the toy library ethos of borrowing rather than buying toys is a way to maximise the use and enjoyment of the items stocked by their libraries.
“Science has shown that children, on average, get bored with a toy after about a month,” says Lauren. “So when you think that’s the lifespan of a toy in your own household, the concept of borrowing rather than purchasing suddenly has huge appeal, both from a financial and an environmental point of view.”
The Federation currently oversees 164 affiliated toy lending libraries throughout New Zealand, 32 of which are in the greater Christchurch area. A small membership fee allows parents and caregivers to borrow puzzles, toys and games from their local toy library. The toy collections usually cater to small infants through to about 10 years of age.
Annual membership to a local toy library can vary by region but generally ranges from $50 to $75, which Lauren considers reasonable in light of the cost to families of buying the equivalent items.
The number of toys that can be ‘issued’ per visit and the duration of a loan varies between libraries; one typical example is up to seven items per fortnight. The selection and range of toys on offer varies too, depending on the membership levels of each library and the success of their fundraising efforts.
“Each toy library is run by its own voluntary committee within its local community,” says Lauren. “The committees really do put in a lot of love and a lot of energy.”
Part of Lauren’s part-time role is to provide administrative oversight for the nationwide toy library movement. She provides practical support and resources, maintains a database, and offers to committees best practice guidelines on matters such as health and safety and financial management.
Intrinsic in the toy library movement is the idea of sustainable play, Lauren explains. The federation’s volunteer board defines this as play that is not going to have a detrimental impact on the environment, that is financially viable for families and that is engaging to children.
“We need to have toy stock that’s going to last through months and months of very hard play through multiple families and children,“ says Lauren. “Toy libraries aim to stock toys … that are durable, sustainable and are going to last.”
Donations of new and good quality second-hand toys that meet the federation’s strict health and safety criteria are welcome. Increased finding would also allow toy libraries to buy more good quality items, says Lauren.
The theme for the federation’s inaugural annual Toy Library Awareness Week, held in March, was ‘Play for a Greener Tomorrow’. The initiative helped raise awareness of the social, developmental and environmental benefits of eco-friendly play.
“I think toy libraries in and of themselves are trying to promote sustainability within communities and to have this community service that can transcend generations and be part of the family environment,” she says. “It starts with stocking good quality toys, by repurposing, and by taking donated toys, fixing them up, cleaning them up and putting them back out there for families to use.”
She says stocking plastic toys is inescapable for toy libraries in this day and age, but admits that people want this to change.
Toy Libraries have been operating in New Zealand since the 1970s. #Borrow don’t buy is a social media hashtag of the Toy Library movement.
[Photos: (L) Lauren Lincoln, coordinator of Toy Libraries of New Zealand. All photos courtesy of TLNZ.]
(August 2024)
