My name is Stuart and in the Autumn of 2019, I launched Envirotoy – a plastic free toy shop. How I got to this point is detailed below! In the summer of 2019, I found myself at a bit of a cross roads in my life having recently left my corporate job which I had been doing for 5 years. I was on a mission to decide what to do next. One thing was for sure, re-entering the corporate slog was not an option. Luckily I had plenty of time to think about this as I meandered my way down the country on a bicycle with a good friend of mine. In the forefront of my mind, i’d decided that I wanted to start a business but was this business going to be?
I’ve always loved the environment – the mountains and the oceans and just being outside in general and especially loved the sea! While cycling through Scotland, this became more and more prominent in my mind. I needed a business that gave me a living but also served a purpose. That was my first box ticked – I’d decided it needed to be something that would help look after the environment. The idea came to me due to circumstance – I have many friends and family who are parents and when I arrived home with a crocked knee I had about four children’s parties to attend in the space of a week. As fate would have it, these parties gave me my ‘light bulb’ moment.
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Firstly, I was in a high street toy store buying some presents – the amount of plastic in there was eye boggling.. unfortunately on that occasion, I bought a plastic toy. At the parties it was the same story and that’s when I had decided – a plastic free toy shop that also gave 1% back to the ocean. A shop that helps look after the world for the very children that will playing with the products.
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Stuart Loach, owner – envirotoy.