Recycle to Read has officially launched its hard plastic toy recycling service in 167 Tesco stores nationwide on 22 April 2026, marking Earth Day, following successful early rollout across UK schools and communities.

The Recycle to Read programme, developed by Wastebuster in association with Products of Change, brings together Tesco, Mattel, leading UK children’s publishers and other toy companies in a unique cross-sector collaboration to deliver a scalable hard plastic toy recycling solution while supporting children’s literacy.

Global play and family entertainment company and POC Member, Mattel, joins as a programme sponsor across the Tesco network, supporting the expansion of this industry-wide initiative, which also forms part of an international research programme exploring circular economy solutions for the toy sector.

Families can return broken hard plastic toys through in-store collection bins for recycling, helping schools earn books and supporting children’s environmental education and literacy.

An estimated 370 million toys were sold in the UK in 2018, yet there are currently limited options for recycling broken hard plastic toys in the UK or globally. At the same time, 1 in 7 UK schools does not have a library, and around 1 in 10 children do not own a book of their own.

The initiative aims to establish a recycling solution for hard plastic toys that have reached the end of their useful life and are not fit for rehoming, reducing the number sent to landfill or incineration (without energy recovery), while advancing innovation in plastic recycling.

Alongside this, the programme engages children aged 4–11 through curriculum-linked education, introducing concepts such as the waste hierarchy and circular economy, supported by popular Mattel characters including Hot Wheels, Barbie and Thomas & Friends.

In-store collections will accept only broken hard plastic toys, which will be sent for sorting and recycling; they will not be rehomed. Schools will receive a comprehensive campaign pack with ready-to-use resources to engage their communities and deliver curriculum-linked education that informs, inspires and empowers pupils to take action.

Schools may also choose to organise toy swaps or sales as fundraising activities, promoting the rehoming of toys in good condition. Families are encouraged to participate in these events or donate toys responsibly, supported by guidance aligned with relevant British Toy and Hobby Association (BTHA) toy safety standards.

Families can drop broken hard plastic toys from any brand into Recycle to Read and Mattel PlayBack co-branded collection units in participating Tesco stores.

Recovered materials will be sorted and mechanically processed in the UK by authorised recycling partners. Plastics will be separated and converted into recycled feedstock suitable for use in the manufacture of new products containing post-consumer recycled content. Any non-target materials or contamination will be managed through appropriate, compliant UK waste streams to maximise responsible resource recovery.

A key part of the Recycle to Read programme is undertaking research to develop new solutions for hard-to-recycle items, with the aim of maximising responsible resource recovery. The programme will also highlight UK plastic recycling capabilities and emerging recycling technologies.

Toy recycling visits can be registered on the campaign website (www.recycletoread.org) to earn Planet Care Points for schools attended by children aged 2–11 in mainland UK. Schools holding toy rehoming events using the Recycle to Read campaign guidelines and providing a photograph of the event can earn 50 bonus Planet Care Points. Eligible schools across the UK mainland and Northern Ireland can register for free at (www.jointhepod.org/toys) to earn points towards books.

The Recycle to Read scheme will reward the 200 highest point-scoring schools on 8 July 2026, with book vouchers from a prize fund, redeemable for discounted books from the Recycle to Read book catalogue, managed by children’s publishing house HarperCollins. Participating schools and families will also have the chance to win books, in prize draws.

The Recycle to Read campaign, launched by Wastebuster in association with Products of Change in 2021, was developed with the support of founding publishing partners, including all major UK children’s publishers and distributors: Immediate Media, Story House Egmont, Redan, Kennedy Publishing, DC Thomson, Frontline and Seymour.

Today, the initiative is supported by leading organisations from across the toy industry and wider sectors, including Mattel, Golden Bear, McDonald’s and TCS Europe. Tesco is supporting the national retail rollout of the programme, with the British Toy and Hobby Association (BTHA) providing guidance and supporting industry engagement across the UK.

Development of the programme is underpinned by collaboration with specialist partners across academia, consultancy and industry bodies – such as RECOUP – bringing expertise in material science, recycling technologies, compliance and circular economy systems. Operational delivery is enabled through partners across logistics, collections and recycling.

The campaign also supports the UK Government’s Year of Reading by helping to address the key challenge of limited access to books in early education. The campaign provides a timely and relevant contribution to national efforts to improve literacy outcomes and close the reading gap — particularly in under-resourced communities.

The programme is being developed in the UK with the aim of global replication.

Katy Newnham, founder of Wastebuster said: “Recycle to Read supports families in learning about the environmental benefits of toy rehoming and recycling, while rewarding them with books for taking part. What better way can we inspire and empower children to make pro-environmental choices, than by storytelling with their favourite characters and giving them an opportunity to send their unwanted toys on a new adventure that is good for the planet?”.

Helena Mansell-Stopher, founder of Products of Change said: “The Recycle to Read platform is the result of the tireless work of an industry coming together with cross-sector stakeholders around the need to find more sustainable solutions for unwanted or broken plastic toys. After so many years in the making, it’s amazing to see the campaign come to life through this partnership. This is a hugely exciting moment that I believe represents a turning point for circularity in toys, and a wonderful example of what can be achieved when industry demonstrates sector leadership and comes together, in the pursuit of sustainability.”

Ally Rose, Tesco category director for home said: “We are always looking for new ways to remove, reduce, reuse and recycle plastic in our business, so we’re delighted to be able to support the Recycle to Read campaign as a way to help our customers do more of this. As well as trialling a new way we can work together on hard-to-recycle plastics, it also helps to give children greater access to reading”.

Michael Hick, VP country manager UK, Benelux and Nordics, Mattel said: “Launched as part of our Mattel PlayBack Program and through partnership with Wastebuster, our aim is to help keep valuable materials in circulation and out of landfills by supporting the collection of broken or unneeded toys. We’re proud to support this programme and thousands of children and families in the UK.”

Michelle Whitehead, sustainable lead for Immediate Media, founding member of Recycle to Read said: “Supporting the Recycle to Read campaign is a vital step in addressing the challenge of toy waste while giving back to our communities by promoting literacy. It’s about doing what’s right—taking meaningful action today to help create a more sustainable future for everyone.”

Duncan Shearer, client services director at Seymour and Chair of the Children’s Publisher Sustainability Forum (consisting of founding members of Recycle to Read) said:  “Having been involved with this project since its inception, I’ve seen the power of collaboration between many stakeholders come alive, delivering an amazing initiative that is doing its part to address the literacy crisis in the UK and helping find a solution to recycle difficult to recycle plastics.”

Roland Earl, director general for the BTHA said: “The BTHA continues to work on a range of initiatives to support our members with transitioning towards a more circular economy, including guidance for our members to support more sustainable toy design and reuse. We have been looking into options for recycling toys at their end of life so are pleased to offer our support to the Recycle to Read campaign as it works towards building a new UK infrastructure for recycling plastic toys.”

Samantha Eardley, marketing director, Collins said “We know that children who grow up with a love of reading have improved life chances, so HarperCollins is delighted to continue working with Wastebuster on the Recycle to Read programme, helping to put great books into classrooms and encouraging every child to become a proud reader. In rewarding schools who have collected broken and unwanted toys in exchange for free books, our partnership is helping to support children’s access to a wide choice of amazing fiction and fascinating non-fiction from Collins, Farshore and HarperCollins Children’s Books.”

For more information on Recycle to Read, visit: www.recycletoread.org or contact Katy@wastebuster.co.uk