Rachael Simpson-Jones caught up with Lisa Longley to find out what changes have been made at Sambro so far.

In April, Sambro announced the appointment of Lisa to the newly created role of Ethical and Sustainability manager, reflecting a wider company drive towards a more sustainable future.

The company is making major strides in its the area of sustainability and the environmental impact of toy production, and Lisa is on board to oversee the implementation of a new sustainability programme, as well as manage the ethical compliance of the company’s supply base. Lisa’s background is in textiles and fashion, but her experience means she’s been able to implement big changes at Sambro from the word go.

Tackling Sambro’s plush portfolio has been an obvious and very successful jumping off point. As announced in June, Sambro has made the switch to recycled filling across its entire plush range, slashing the need for virgin polyester production and diverting single use plastic from landfills. The filling used in each toy is made from 100% recycled postconsumer plastic, coming mostly from plastic bottles and developed in line with Global Recycle Standard guidelines.

The recycled plush filling is just the beginning of a wide-sweeping series of measures that will see Sambro continue to drive forward its commitment to its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards.

“It’s important to us that the changes we make are positive, backed by certification and/or data we can produce on demand, and maintainable (or improvable) in the long term,” Lisa explains. “No one will be able to accuse Sambro of greenwashing because everything we’re doing has involved digging down into the minutiae to expose exactly what impact it will have.”

To find out more, read the full article, which appeared in the August edition of Toy World, here.