How YoungPlanet is reducing waste by rehousing toys

From the latest LOL Surprise! playset to Star Wars themed figurines – not to mention baby bathtubs and bottles – many parents feel like their homes are taken over by toys their children no longer want to play with and items they no longer need.

Jason and Emma Ash, who live in west Berkshire with their three sons, hope to keep these objects out of landfill with their tech-for-good start-up YoungPlanet.

The app allows parents to list children's toys, books, clothes, and bigger items such as baby walkers or cots that they no longer need, while other users can request them for free.

In addition to enabling thousands of families to declutter sustainably, it can also be a money-saver for struggling parents, as the average value of bigger items listed on the app is more than £40.

Jason argues that the specificity of the target, and the fact that users can list and pick up items at no cost, makes YoungPlanet stand out when compared to other digital marketplaces such as Facebook or Gumtree.

He tells The Independent: “Everything on YoungPlanet is given and received for free. It sounds a bit naff, but the joy of giving is a bit like exercise: we know it’s good for us, but until you actually do it, you need constant reminding of it.

“And it is also becoming a go-to place for parenting things. We want to be seen as that, and are used as such.”

The idea for the app came when the couple stumbled upon a yard sale while living in the US, and their eldest son fell in love with a bright-red ride-on fire truck. The owner was so pleased to see someone enjoying the toy that he gave it away for free.

Jason says: “The emotional benefit of seeing that joy is quite different from simply selling that truck. That was where the idea for YoungPlanet began.

“It’s in a child’s nature to want more things and it’s in the parents’ nature to provide for them, but some of the things they have, they don’t use. Our goal was to knit that into an app, firstly to address the environmental waste element, but also to address the cost of raising children, which doesn’t need to be so high.”

The entrepreneur, who has a background in consumer goods marketing and finance, adds: “I spent my career trying to convince people to eat more sugar, fat and salt in different ways. From a marketing angle, I’m quite good at getting people to change their behaviours, and I wanted to use it with a more positive impact.”

Emma, who previously worked in luxury goods and public relations, says: “From a practical point of view, my boys wore each other’s stuff, and when it got to the youngest, I had no one around to give things away to – yet they were still in great condition. What we wanted to do is create an easy way for people to pass their things on – effectively digitising the hand-me-down process.”

The entrepreneurial duo wanted the app to be as user-friendly as possible. Parents can download it via the App Store or Google Play for free, and browse for nearby items that other households are clearing out.

A new feature also prevents users from being overwhelmed with messages. Emma explains: “For example, if you’ve promised your baby-walker to one person, the app allows other users to still watch the item if they are interested, but they can’t continue to message the person who posted it, so they don’t get bombarded.”

Since its launch in 2018, the app has gone from strength to strength. By June this year, YoungPlanet had 50,000 users in London alone, with over 15,000 items listed on the app since it began.

In Hackney, the first borough where the service was available, parents are never more than 50 yards from someone who has used the app in the last 30 days. Earlier this month, YoungPlanet launched at a national level so that more families could benefit from it.

Jason says: “We began the national campaign on the evening of 6 June and we’re adding a run rate of greater than 5000 a week, with daily rates increasing.

“The first few days have been outstanding, both in terms of the velocity of the uptake as well as the breadth geographically across the UK. Significantly, we've seen a material increase in conversion from download to registration, which bodes well for usage over the summer.”

The company’s current focus is to reach as many households as possible, with the aim being to get to at least a quarter of a million families by the end of the year.

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Jason and Emma ran two successful crowdfunding campaigns, raising nearly £400,000 in 2019 and over £500,000 this year, and are exploring new revenue streams, but Jason insists the app will always be free to use.

Despite the current success of the app, the couple admit there have been challenges along the way.

Emma says: “Once people get behind the app, support it and spread the word, it’s wonderful – but it’s getting that momentum. We had to be quite disciplined about how we launched it because we wanted people to have a positive experience straight away.”

The pandemic also disrupted the business, with people being fearful of exchanging products face to face, and little being known about whether the virus could be transmitted via objects.

Jason says: “At first we actually asked everyone to stop using the app, because at that point we weren’t clear about transmission rates through physical objects. We sat back and focused on supporting the community. However, we increased in confidence throughout the year as more became known, and no country in the world stopped its national mail system. In the end we smashed our targets for the year.”

The couple say the most rewarding aspect of their work is seeing communities of parents who have met through the app helping and supporting each other, as well as the impact of these exchanges.

Jason says: “Every time someone takes the time and trouble to write to us or send us pictures, it is really rewarding to see that tangible effect. We’ve also met some of these people and became parent buddies – it’s a very nice community.”