As part of its efforts to attract children to its restaurants, the fast food giant McDonald's gives away small plastic toys with its Happy Meals. If you regularly take your kids to McDonald's, chances are you'll have a fair few of these knocking around your house. If you're having a spring clean, think twice before throwing your McDonald's toys in the trash. They can be of use to others once your children have tired of them.

  • As part of its efforts to attract children to its restaurants, the fast food giant McDonald's gives away small plastic toys with its Happy Meals.
  • If you regularly take your kids to McDonald's, chances are you'll have a fair few of these knocking around your house.

Sell your McDonald's toys on eBay. Believe it or not, there are people who would be interested in buying your McDonald's toys. In fact, some people actually collect them. If you type "McDonald's toys" in the search box on eBay, you'll get thousands of results. Even if you only sell your toys for less than a dollar, you'll make a small amount of money and your toys will go to somebody who will get pleasure from them.

Put your toys in your plastic recycling bin. Contact your area's sanitation department to find out if they collect the type of plastic your toys are made of. If they don't, you can find a recycling centre near you that does by entering your postcode into the search box on the landing page of the Earth 911 website.

  • Put your toys in your plastic recycling bin.
  • Contact your area's sanitation department to find out if they collect the type of plastic your toys are made of.

Give your McDonald's toys to a local thrift store. You may think it unlikely that people would be interested in buying plastic toys that are given away for free, but you'd be surprised. Just look at the demand on eBay. Check your local business listings to find thrift stores near you.

Give your McDonald's toys to other children. There's only so long your kids are going to kept amused by a few pieces of moulded plastic. When they tire of them, give your McDonald's pieces to kids who haven't seen them yet. You could even put them in goody bags to give out at birthday parties.