What Happens to Donated Toys After We Collect Them?
Once you’ve booked a free doorstep toy collection and the van pulls away from your door, your toys start a journey that ends with another child playing with them. We bring them back to our warehouse, sort them by hand and pass on what can be played with again. Here is what happens to donated toys after we collect them, stage by stage.
- Sorted by hand
- Passed on to be played with
- Most toys used again
The journey
From your doorstep to a new playroom
Picked up from your door
You leave your toys out by 7am on your collection day, in tied bags or boxes a driver can lift. You don’t need to be in. The evening before, we email you an estimated arrival window and a link to follow the driver on the day.
Our drivers collect from homes all day, then bring everything back to our warehouse. Nothing is sold straight off the van. Every bag goes through the same checks first.
The full walk-through, with packing tips, is on how do I donate my toys?
Sorted by hand
At our warehouse, every bag is opened and every toy is checked by hand. Our team sorts them by type: soft toys and teddies, building blocks, action figures, bath toys, musical toys, wooden and plastic toys, and educational toys.
It’s careful work, and it’s what makes sure each toy goes somewhere it will be played with. Building bricks are sorted too. There is more on donating Lego from home, and on teddies in our guide to soft toys.
Checked for play
We look at each toy the way a parent would. Is it in good condition? Is it broken or damaged? Could a child pick it up and play with it tomorrow? Toys that pass are kept together by type, ready to be passed on.
This is why we ask for toys in good condition. The more of each bag that can be played with again, the further your donation goes.
Passed on to be played with again
Toys that can be used again are passed on and sold second-hand. That makes good toys affordable for families who can’t buy them brand new.
We believe every family has the right to affordable toys. They’re a vital part of a child’s learning and development, and a toy one child has grown out of can be the next child’s favourite.
The toys that can’t be played with again
Because we only ask for toys in good condition, most of what we collect goes on to be played with again. The few that turn out to be broken or damaged are separated out during sorting, so they don’t travel any further with the rest.
You can help by checking your toys before you pack them. The list of what toys we can and can’t take explains what condition is fine. Some things, such as board games, jigsaws, doll houses, ride-on toys and other bulky toys, we can’t collect at all.
The money goes to charity
Selling the toys pays for the collection, the sorting and the transport, and a large percentage of the proceeds goes to the charity you chose when you booked: RSPCA, Action for Children, Together for Short Lives or Advance. Or you can plant trees with Ecologi.
You can read more on who do my toys help?
Why this journey matters. Every toy played with again is a toy that didn’t need to be made new, and didn’t end up in a bin. We explain what that saves on how donating toys helps the planet, and what happens to toys that are thrown away on why old toys shouldn’t go in the bin.
Anglo Recycling, the company behind Anglo Doorstep Collections, was named Best Clothes Recycling Enterprise 2023 in the Southern Enterprise Awards.
The bigger picture
What it all means for the environment
We want toys used again for what they were made for: play. Your children’s old toys don’t need to go to landfill. They can have a new home.
Carbon saved
By our own estimate, every kilo of toys reused instead of made new saves around 2 kg of CO2e. See roughly what your clear-out could save with our green calculator.
Less made new
A toy that gets a second home is one fewer that needs to be made, packed and shipped. Passing toys on keeps them in use for longer.
Out of the bin
Toys thrown in the bin can’t be played with again. Donating them is the simplest way to keep good toys out of landfill.
You can give your pre-loved toys, and many other household items, a second life: book a free doorstep collection and choose the charity your donation supports.
Ready to donate your toys?
It’s free, you don’t need to be at home, and you choose the charity your donation supports.