With his sun blonde beach hair and permanent tan, his trademark shell necklace swinging around his neck, Malte Niebelshuetz looks more like a beach bro than the ceo of a toy company. Having just completed a two-month tour of Asia on a social impact campaign sharing insight on sustainability in business – he acts more like one, too.

Yet rest assured, Malte is of the toy industry kinsfolk and has been for the past 10 years, since the day he officially founded his toy business, Shore Buddies.

Like the shell necklace, Shore Buddies completes the ‘beach bro’ look. Malte’s purpose-led business is, after all, on a mission to bring ‘sustainability in play’ and keep plastics out of the ocean. Shore Buddies “got famous” for producing the world’s first mass market stuffed toy animal made 100% from recycled plastic bottles, bringing with it the message of ocean conservation and the perils of plastic pollution. 

Now, plush toys containing rPET stuffing are ubiquitous, you can’t get away from them. In fact, such commonplace is it that even the US toy trade body, the Toy Association has been campaigning to reverse an historic stuffed toy law in Pennsylvania blocking the use of recycled materials within their production process. By lifting the law, the government will in effect open a floodgate to US companies making the switch to rPET and recycled materials within their plush toy production.

So why is it, with the decades-old ban now finally lifted only this week, that Malte is ready to “make a huge pivot” away from rPET and recycled plastic altogether? Well, the devil is in the detail and the answer here has a lot to do with nanoplastics.

“Recent research has surfaced detailing the impact of nanoplastics on our cells and bodies,” Malte tells Products of Change. “These tiny particles can be transmitted via the skin from cuddling or touching plastic toys. So, we have made the decision to phase out all plastic from our toys immediately, starting with an all-new line of Shore Buddies made from upcycled, organic, biodegradable fabrics.”

Malte aims for this first line of newly produced Shore Buddies to be on the market in time for Christmas. More likely, he admits, it will be winter 2025. Whichever it is, its importance won’t be diminished. As the industry’s earliest adopter of sustainable innovation, this move is significant and its message to the toy business more so. 

“We are all about sustainability and are always aiming to become as eco-friendly as possible,” says Malte. “We were one of the first toy companies of our size to start publishing an annual impact report. But ‘net zero’ is not always the answer when it comes to plastic in general. If plastic packaging or a plastic toy ends up in the ocean, it still harms marine life. It doesn’t matter if the label says ‘climate neutral’. 

“This is why our focus is truly on phasing out plastics in our products and across our supply chains.”

A report published in Nature this June defined microplastics as plastics less than 5mm. In particular, it identified fibre shedding during the laundering of synthetic textiles as a key contributor to microplastic release into waterbodies, representing anywhere between 4% and 35% of all primary microplastic emissions. Alongside apparel, the global toy industry has been recognised as one of the most plastic-heavy industries in the world.

But Malte insists there aren’t “good and bad apples”, just an industry trying to compete with a radically changing world around it.

“It’s time we acknowledge this together in the industry and come up with more sustainable product strategies going forward,” he says. “If we do not lead the change and get our customers informed on how they can be a part of the solution and not part of the pollution, we are missing a tremendous opportunity to really improve the world through play.” 

Inspired by ethical businesses like Patagonia, Shore Buddies wants to ‘empower kids to stop ocean plastic pollution’ while using it platform to better the world. In 2022, the company officially became a California Social Purpose Corporation committed to producing its products in the most sustainable ways possible while delivering its environmental education through each character’s backstory and corresponding comic strips and animated videos. In becoming so, Shore Buddies could be mistaken for a bit of an industry outlier. In reality, Malte and his mission-led business are part of a growing swell of companies out to drive tangible, impactful change in the toy space.

Recognising that improving the world ‘is not a one man job’, he calls these individuals ‘soldiers’ who are ‘utilising business for social change’. Combined, it’s their impact that is being felt across the toy industry.

“I am really seeing a lot of progress in the industry already over the short amount of time I have been in it,” says Malte. “The topic of sustainability has become so much more dominant across all players. Customers are looking for sustainable toys, retailers are demanding toys to be more sustainable, and more and more brands and manufacturers are answering their calls. 

“But this is the beauty of business. It’s the easiest form of democracy – businesses have to deliver what the customer wants, otherwise they will be out of business. Customers today are aware of what sustainability really means and see and feel the true impact of toys and products. Business has to lead this change because legislation is just always playing catch up. Legislation is always behind the curve on progress.”

Whether or not the toy industry at large is ahead of that curve, however, remains to be seen. New legislation – delivered under the umbrella of the European Green Deal – is already transforming the business landscape with companies now required to comply with regulations like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, the EU’s Deforestation Regulation, and packaging and product Extended Producer Responsibility directives all coming into effect in the next couple of years.

In its effort to become the first global market to achieve net zero by 2050 through the transition to a circular economy, Europe – through its legislative tools and regulations – is prepared to see 80% of businesses topple. In its ambition, the European Commission is being cutthroat. How many businesses manage to evolve fast enough will be an interesting count. Yet Malte remains determined Shore Buddies will forever stay ahead of the pack.

“We are still currently eyeing a strategic partner for our switch to organic, biodegradable materials in our products,” he says. “But besides this switch, we are further aiming for a circular economy approach with buy-back programmes for our customers as well as doubling down on the educational materials provided with each and every Shore Buddy.

“It’s a tough battle to put sustainability first, but the future is green.”