Barnardo’s has clinched a Christmas corporate partnership deal with high street retailer Argos, which aims to encourage people to donate their unwanted toys for Barnardo’s to sell in its charity shops.

Hot on the heels of the charity’s potentially controversial partnership with KFC, Barnardo’s has announced its involvement in the Argos Toy Exchange.

In return for depositing their unwanted toys at ‘donation stations’ within 740 Argos stores and 500 Barnardo’s shops, shoppers will receive a £5 Argos voucher that they can redeem against purchases of new toys at Argos – provided they spend £35 or more and buy before 24 December.

Asked how many toys must be donated in order to receive a voucher, an Argos spokeswoman said no minimum number had been set, but more than one would be expected.

"Obviously if you take in five Lego bricks, you won't get a voucher," she said. "But a couple of good-condition, resaleable toys would qualify."

Research commissioned by Argos suggests that the average UK family has 80 toys but that children ignore around two-thirds of them, resulting in 474 million un-played-with toys languishing in people’s homes.  Each year 13 million toys are thrown away and end up in landfill. 

Yet according to the Department for Work and Pensions, almost a third of all children in the UK – 3.6 million of them - belong to families that live below the poverty line.

All the toys donated through the scheme will be given to Barnardo’s to sell in its shops, and the charity will keep all the proceeds from the sale of these toys.

The scheme was launched on Wednesday by Argos Toy Exchange ambassador, Danielle Lineker (pictured). Toys will be accepted at the donation stations until 27 November.

Argos posted sales of £3.9bn in the financial year to February 2012.