Tue 31 Jan 2023 | by Rob Hutchins

Golden Bear sets 2023 target for recycled materials across its plush portfolio

The independent toy maker, Golden Bear has set a new 2023 target to transform 83% of its plush portfolio to more sustainable production methods by using recycled polyester for both outer fabric and filling. The goal is the next stage development of the company’s overarching sustainable development journey that kicked into action when Golden Bear moved its Hey Duggee range to recycled fabric in 2021. This was swiftly followed by Mr Tumble and The Baby Club in 2022. Joining the brands that have already made the change will be Bing, In the Night Garden, Sooty, Twirlywoos, and its newest own brand collection, Okimos. Meanwhile, the toy maker and Products of Change member continues to move its packaging into FSC Mix card with 95% of its products now hitting this target. These are also printed with soy-based inks. “The sustainability culture is well and truly embedded within Golden Bear now, we have an ideas box in our reception area to get all employees engaged in sharing their thoughts on anything from product to processes and we’ve had a wealth of ideas under the sustainability category, which is great to see,” Gareth Lloyd, commercial manager at Golden Bear told Products of Change. End of life solutions for the toy business’ soft toys are currently being investigated in a bid to bring Golden Bear closer to circularity. The company was one of the first in the toy sector to get on board with the Wastebusters initiative which has armed the team with “vast knowledge, ideas and solutions to recycling toys”. “Having made great strides on product and scope 1 and 2 emissions already and assessing where we can use more sustainable raw materials such as rPET and potentially hard plastics in the future, we’re now in discussions with our supply chain to see what steps they are taking to reduce their footprint,” said Gareth.