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The listening exercises in Business Spotlight Übungsheft (p. 5) are based on the article “A second life for toys” (Names & News, p. 8). Here, we provide you with the audio file and transcript.
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A second life for toys
For many of us, our first best friend is a cherishedgeschätzt, geliebtcherished cuddly toy (UK)Kuscheltiercuddly toy. At some point, however, we grow out of this phase and leave our toys behind. They’re often relegate sth.etw. verbannenrelegated to a far corner of the bedroom; later, perhaps, to a box in the cellar. Eventually, about 80 per cent of cuddly animals and other toys get thrown out. The problem is that most toys are made of synthetic materials. A study in 2022 estimated that they make up about six per cent of plastics in landfillMülldeponielandfills worldwide.
While volunteerhier: freiwillig arbeitenvolunteering at a charity shop(karitativer) Second-Hand-Ladencharity shop in London, Charlotte Liebling noticed the number of discardedausrangiert, aussortiertdiscarded cuddly toys. She also saw how emotional it often was for people to give up their toys. She thought it was both wasteful and a shame that all those memories should be lost. In 2019, Liebling, who comes from Bedfordshire, north-west of London, founded the company Loved Before, which restore sth.wiederherstellenrestores donatedgespendetdonated soft toys and sells them to new customers, online and through several department storeKaufhausdepartment stores in Britain. She calls her company a “soft-toy adoption agency”.
The global doll and stuffed toyPlüschtier, Stofftierstuffed-toy market generated nearly $23 billion in revenueEinnahme(n)revenue in 2025, but Liebling wants to challenge ideas about secondhand and offer the toy industry a new business model. She told CWB Online: “Loved Before is on a mission to save the world, one teddy at a time.”