Have any of you ignored the plastic/trendy toys successfully? And if so, please tell me how! I know people must do it but I just haven't found any yet.

Yes, BR, I have! I just buy toys for special occasions, eg birthdays, Christmas and only a few really good quality ones. To ensure good ones I go to a specialist toy shop and not Kmart etc and buy usually wooden ones that can be passed on (to siblings, next generation..)

So at home we have a few baskets in the play area- one contains wooden building blocks, one felt animals that I made, one of books, one of a tea set and other play kitchen stuff (bought real ones from the Salvos), one of silk scarves in diff colours and sizes and a few smaller ones holding honky nuts, shells, pine cones and rocks. Then we have a cane dolly bassinette, a dolly stroller, a soft doll that I had handmade for DD and a few of my old teddies. In a toy cupboard, we have some wooden musical instruments, block sorter, finger puppets and bigger puppets, wooden jigsaws and a few other things. As I don't take DD to departments stores, or allow her to read the catalogues and we are friends with like minded families, we don't have a big problem with her asking for things. She plays happily for a very long time with her things as they really allow open ended play.
Once a fortnight we get a toy from the toy library- usually a Fisher Price Little People thing that gets played with for a day or two and that's it. We have a craft basket too of good quality stuff and lots of homemade play dough. The craft basket is bought out every now and then and not left out.

I am opposed to lots of plastic toys for many reasons- philosophical, environmental, financial, developmental etc and I find that if I let people know really politely, then they don't have much of a problem buying gifts accordingly.

For birthdays etc I either guide family to websites that sell the type of stuff we like, or request vouchers or else things like clothing, books, or handmade gifts. I also photocopied a list someone else gave me that suggests suitable non-plastic type toys (I gave it to my mum and MIL).

Hence, we don't have lots of things that are not used, we have a cleanish play area, DD and friends are happy with what they have to play with and I know DD values what she has (to the extent that she can!). Anything received that I am really opposed to gets passed on to cousins or stored down the back room until I figure out what to do!