The New Zealand duo, Helen Townsend and Anthea Ibell – the co-founders of the international toy company, Sustained Fun – take their mission to lead by example and transform the toy industry very seriously.

Through a combined effort, the pair have already introduced to the world the concept of the ‘reusable water balloon’ through their flagship toy brand, EcoSplat and, in the last two years, kickstarted the movement known as World Sustainable Toy Day in the pursuit of a carbon neutral toy industry.

In the last month, Sustained Fun has published its 2023 to 2024 impact report, celebrating a year-on-year decrease in waste and emissions while offering a level of transparency to be applauded by a toy industry teetering on the edge of a sustainable transition, led by the growing demand from customers and families.

We catch up with Helen Townsend, co-founder of Sustained Fun to take a deep dive into the business’ biggest successes and most challenging hurdles.

Helen, massive congratulations on hitting some key achievements in the latest impact report. Are you able to talk us through some of the practices you’ve put in place to achieve this result?

Thanks, Rob! We’re very proud to have kept all of our waste and emissions low from the very beginning. We set up the company with sustainability as the core value so have designed systems and products that avoid unnecessary resources – for example we seek out other B Corporations and climate positive suppliers to work with, we both work from home to reduce emissions, and our packaging is designed to not use any glue, fit the products perfectly, and is recyclable at the end of its life. 

We track waste and emissions, analyse the sources, and problem-solve ways to avoid them going forward. For example, we have recently asked suppliers to package using paper rather than soft plastic, find local suppliers where possible, and use carbon zero certified electricity.

Any unavoidable carbon emissions we are offsetting 120%.

You’ve reported some big wins and emissions reductions in the last few months. But as you start to grow and expand, those emissions will inevitably increase? How do you and how will you continue to balance out business growth with environmental impact?

In 2022 we started developing new product ranges, expanded into Australia and increased our in-person sales around New Zealand. As we grow, we are striving to design out the waste of resources and did this by ensuring our Australian distributor understood our environmental expectations including shipping stock rather than air freighting.

Our emissions will always fluctuate with how much stock we order and in 2023 they reduced because we ordered less, but we also reduced our travel. Flights are always a large source of carbon emissions so to reduce these we now don’t both go on sales trips, we use public transport when away and we only travel when we feel is necessary. Our in-person sales and marketing has been balanced by online advertising this past year. 

And are these measures you’d be able to replicate as you grow the business across markets?

We intend to continue to design out waste wherever possible. This year, we have managed to source manufacturing of new products in New Zealand which is fantastic as it results in lower carbon emissions, support for the local economy, and a more resilient supply chain.

We are also starting to measure more emission sources, so we have a more accurate picture of our environmental impact. Our emissions will likely continue to fluctuate with travel and stock management so we will continue to offset 120% carbon emissions to ensure that we can be confident that our work is still climate positive. 

The level of transparency you guys provide in the report is fantastic and gives us keen insight into the international toy industry at large. You report, for instance on working with women owned businesses across the supply chain.

How do we encourage more of this level of transparency across the toy industry?

Thanks! We know that leading by example and showcasing how things can be done to benefit people and the planet is a great way to encourage others to follow suit and educate and empower companies to actually do so. To make it even easier for other companies, we have made a lot of our policies open source (because we know how much time and energy goes into these admin type things) and are always open to having conversations with others that are wanting to reduce their impact. 

We also know that it is incredibly hard to find suppliers and manufactures that align with your values, so we use B Corp and sustainable company databases as a starting point. However, sometimes there simply aren’t many options. For us, things have changed as we have grown and we are now actually supporting fewer women owned businesses than previously. This is due to having to bump up into larger suppliers which are generally run by a larger group of people. 

The key takeaway is that we should all be striving for progress, not perfection! And if more toy companies start to consider both the environmental and social factors in their decision making, we will be on the right track and all the better for it. 

Where do you think the biggest strides or advances towards a circular economy for the toy industry will come from?

We believe the biggest push for environmental practices will come from consumers – a recent study showed that consumers are becoming more environmentally conscious year-on-year (Colmar Brunton report); more people are looking at a company’s environmental credentials, and more are willing to pay slightly more for something that aligns with their values. 

There is a huge opportunity for toy companies to harness these shifts and provide genuinely environmentally friendly products. 

So, what’s the next step forward for Sustained Fun?

We’re very excited about our latest product ‘Nature Fun Card Games’. Research has shown that connecting children with nature and valuing the environment leads them to make more environmentally conscious decisions when they are older. 

The beauty of this is that it just involves being out in nature; in their garden, the local park, the beach or in wilder places. If you’ve ever tried to get kids to go for a walk you’ll be familiar with the moaning! These card games gamify exploring by providing treasure hunt style activities to guide kids to connect with nature and each other.

We’re launching with 3 packs ‘Garden Treasure Hunt’, ‘At the Beach Treasure Hunt’, and ‘Nature in Surprising Places’. Nature Fun card games are part of our Wild Fixes range – dedicated to showcasing nature-based solutions to climate change through toys.