Why we believe in our project:

Problem:

Our project started after our team made the following observation: as of today, most children’s toys are made of plastic (an estimated ninety per cent of toys are made from some form of plastic and most of them are not recyclable). It is well known that plastic is an extremely polluting material to produce (2350 kg of CO2 rejected into the atmosphere for each tonne of plastic). Non-recycled plastic will more often than not end up in the sea. Research has shown the existence of an area in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that is filled with plastic waste. This field is three times bigger than France.

In an attempt by major toy companies to lower their production cost and thus final pricing, most toys are made in Asia, specifically in China which still produces 75% of the whole of the toys sold across the world. According to the UN, the country exported $44bn-worth of toys in 2016. China is not the most responsible country regarding labor conditions (minimum wages, child labour etc) and regarding environmental protection. The toys manufactured in East Asia must then be transported by plane to other markets in different countries.

But there is another -rather pressing- issue with plastic toys, one that will perhaps strike the readers even more, as they are directly concerned. This plastic can -and does- contain very toxic substances, with risks of being carcinogenic and potentially disrupting the child’s endocrine system. According to a study made by Plymouth University, a majority of plastic toys contain heavy metals like baryum, brome, selenium, chrome and even lead… As toys are very often bitten by children, those heavy metals can easily be swollen and, in the long run, they represent a threat for the child’s health. Tests conducted this year by the European Chemicals Agency have found 18% of the tested toys to be “non-compliant” with European norms and “dangerous”.

It is important that today, both parents and children realise the issues associated with plastic toys consumption: how they are made, where they come from and the danger they represent.

Because of the environmental and health threat it represents, the drastic reduction of plastic toys production and consumption, as they are organized today, is an urgent matter.

Proposed concept:

With our new concept, we will try to avoid all these problems, by creating a non-polluting, non-toxic, and ethically produced toy. It is going to be made of ethically and locally produced wood, therefore involving no toxic and dangerous substances. As it will be locally produced, it will not involve as much transport, and therefore will limit greenhouse gas emissions. It ought to be seen as an original project because it implies revolutionizing the classic way of implementing and creating a new product: we will make a change at every step of the value chain, in order to obtain a sustainable value chain. Despite higher costs, it is totally feasible, and especially nowadays as people are getting more and more educated about the environment and the toxic substances, and are asking for more transparent, ethic and authentic products. Moreover, consumers nowadays are willing to have a positive impact on society and on the environment without willing to change their consumer habits, that’s why every company has to have a social responsable ethic in order to fulfill its customers needs. That is what we are willing to do with our project.

The design process will be user-centered, therefore we will involve children in this process. The aim is to gain value by developing an active collaboration between artist designers locally well known and children and highlight the cultural contribution of our products.

We will also promote innovative ways of productions and consumption through our products, we will use new biomaterials as mycelium for examples which have the particularity to be completely eco-friendly.

Expected positive impacts:

Our project serves a wider purpose: to educate both parents and children on the environmental, health and social costs of the consumption habits in general.

Toys are part and parcel of a child’s uprising, we thus intend to raise awareness on the wider threats of a non-eco-responsible consumption (environment and social impact).

Major risks and actions to reduce them:

Deployment strategy and major milestones:

The first step will be to contact both designers and producers and convince them to work with us on our project. We will then do fundraising through crowdfunding, to get the money that will help us at the beginning of the project. With this revenue, we will try to launch some marketing research to find out insights about our target consumers - young or soon-to-be parents - and their desires.

Then we will create two or three toys that we will test with children, for instance in nurseries. We will use our observations to either change elements of our toys - and potentially re-test these products - or continue in the same way. Afterward, we will finally put these products up for sale, both on the internet and in physical stores. To do so, we will need more money, possibly thanks to crowdfunding, or borrowing. Then we will wait until we gain enough money with these toys to lengthen the product range.

Return on investment analysis:

We will have several costs to take into account:

These are the costs of the first major step of our project, first financed through fundraising, before we gain money with our products. Our toys will be sold at the beginning at the price of 49,99 €. It is a higher price than for a classic toy, we must therefore emphasize the quality of the product to customers.

Key resources:

Designers, wood producers, managers, transporters, marketing specialists, engineers, local actors (officials and non-profit organizations). We will also involve children in the designing process.

- Intellectual resources

Intellectual property (patents, copyrights…) and partnerships.

We will have to make an intellectual property contract with the artist-designers who take part in our production keeping in mind that our products will help them to be more known by the general public.

Wood is going to be the main material resource. It would be beechwood, which has many advantages. First, there are many beech forests in France, particularly in Bourgogne and Lorraine. In fact, according to the french ministry of ecology, beechs represent 10 % of the entire french forests. These forests have the PEFC label, which promotes sustainable forest management. Beechwood is also resistant and has a bactericidal effect. We will need other material resources, necessary for the production of toys: cutting machine, glue, colors, painting brush. To be as eco-friendly as possible we will also use recycled wood whenever we can.

In a second matter, we will use innovative biomaterials, as mycelium with is a material with interesting specifications. There is a lot of research on the material especially in packaging and building companies. We can get some from biofactories, it is easy to shape and cheap to produce as they are very common in Europe. We would like to use and promote other solid innovative biomaterials as cellulose (use in journal paper for examples) but made from bacterias.

When it is necessary we will use végétal textile and eco-friendly material stemming from the environment as they are doing in the vegetal leather production.

Partnerships:

Wood producers, designers, toy brands who will commercialize our products, magazines/blogs/website who will help us with the communication. There ought to be a partnership with magazines and blogs as well as TV programs, not only for advertising purposes, but also to educate about the dangers and toxicity of the substances inside our children toys, and about the dangers and long-term effects of plastic production for children’s health, as well as plastic disposal for the environment.
Other partners will include both local and national (non-profit) organizations fighting against plastic consumption and production and for the health and well-being of children (we can also consider education-driven organizations)

Due to our use of wood as our main raw material, we will establish an environmentally conscious partnership with wood producers (making sure the material does not come from a sensitive environment, ensuring a fair salary of local producers and people involved etc).

We will also establish partnerships with designers to design the toys; as well as ask kids to draw some toys they would like to see “alive”.

As for the distribution of our products, we will establish a partnership with magazines, especially those targeted for young parents and women, in order to get our brand to be heard of and well-known

Channels:

Our products must be easily available: therefore, they will be sold on the internet (and promoted on social networks), but also in a physical store. In order to do so, we will create partnerships with a specific toy brand which are located in several countries around the world. We will sell our products through them as well as through local stores. We hope that local schools can use our toys too when they buy toys for educational purposes.

Cost Structure:

Fixed costs:

Variable costs: