Someone who seems very happy with the toy he just swapped. Photo: Retoy.
Can you create a better world by playing? One person who is sure of this is Soledad Piñero Misa, who started Retoy. The idea behind Retoy is to let children understand the value of sustainability by exchanging, borrowing, repairing and creating their own toys.
In the last issue of the climate and sustainability magazine I work with, Effekt, we interviewed Soledad Piñero Misa about her ideas.
– One of the things we really need to change is our consumption. That goes for everyone, also the children, she says.
Reading together about children's rights at a climate festival in Tensta, Stockholm. Photo: Retoy.
Soledad Piñero Misa grew up in Rosengård, in the suburbs of Malmö. After having opened her first Retoy centre in Stockholm, she also wanted to give something back to the place where she once grew up. So in 2011, Rosengård was host for a big Retoy-party.
– At the party, children could swap toys with each other, create new toys out of old and broken ones and learn about their rights by playing, drawing and do jigsaw puzzles. It was a wonderful crowd of children, dancing and singing together among toys and balloons. And not a single wallet needed to be opened, neither did any new things have to be produced, apart from balloons and lemonade, Soledad Piñero Misa says in the article.
Creating new toy out of old ones in the Retoylab. Photo: Retoy.
