Buying Toys This Year? Read This First

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The holidays are almost here and many of you are likely scrambling to find the perfect gifts for the children in your lives. Instead of heading to the big retailer with the big-name brands, consider eco-friendly and organic toys.

Here’s why.

Standard toys are often made with a plastic known as PVC (polyvinyl chloride). This plastic is not only difficult to recycle and toxic when produced, but, because it is so brittle, it often requires additives like phthalates to give it flexibility. Phthalates are carcinogenic and could cause kidney, thyroid and other health problems.

The toy manufacturing process also may include chemicals and metals like lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic and bisphenol A (BPA). These materials have been linked to cancer, poor brain development, and cardiovascular, behavior, fertility and kidney problems.

Wow.

These chemicals aren’t just harmful to children. They hurt the environment, too, because they’re often toxic to produce and hard to recycle.

Even the seemingly innocent cotton can pose dangers. Conventionally grown cotton uses about 25% of the insecticides and 10% of the pesticides worldwide, according to data from Apple Park of San Francisco.

There’s more.

If toys are traveling long distances to reach the stores, they are contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. Transportation is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases, says Green Toys of California.

Also, some manufacturers use unethical labor practices, such as paying unfair wages and allowing unsafe exposure to toxic chemicals.

That’s enough bad news. Here’s the good news.

Organic and eco-friendly toy makers don’t use harmful chemicals, and they make environmentally friendly and ethical manufacturing a priority. Toy categories include all sorts of good news:

• Organic: Organic products are made from materials grown without the use of chemicals. The cotton used in a stuffed animal or doll, for example, must meet U.S. Department of Agriculture growing standards to receive the “organic” label. (Currently, there is no certification like the USDA for toys.)

• Eco-Friendly/Earth-Friendly/Green: A wooden toy made from sustainable forests and finished with non-toxic material would fit into this category.

• Natural: Toys labeled as natural are made with materials like wood, bamboo, wool and silk.

• Recycled: This category includes those toys processed from used or waste materials that would otherwise be discarded.

• Responsible: These toys are made by companies who are committed to fair labor and safe working conditions and who focus on environmental preservation.

The prices of these toys are pretty reasonable, especially when you consider all the good you’re getting.

Organic and eco-friendly toys cost about 10% to 50% more than standard toys, Planet Happy Kids of Seattle estimates. Why? Natural and organic materials cost more than the cheap plastics used in standard toys, but they are also higher quality materials. The durability of eco-friendly and organic toys means that these toys can last from child to child and even from generation to generation, creating more dollar value and less waste in landfills.

Here’s the lowdown on the companies selling these wonderful products.

Apple Park

Products from ApplePark are about as pure as they get.

The company’s naturally hypoallergenic products are made from 100% certified organic cotton, natural silk and sustainable hemp and soy fabrics that are free from chemicals and carcinogenic materials. The company uses eco-friendly dyes and it packages its products in recycled paper printed with soy ink.

The organic cotton it uses isn’t only good for the child with the toy. Organic farming saves energy, protects water quality and keeps harmful chemicals out of the environment.

Green Toys

What’s the main ingredient in Green Toys? Recycled milk containers! This means its products are made from 100% recycled plastic. The company also manufactures all its products locally in California. Both of these manufacturing practices save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This company has nothing but good news.

“Every pound of recycled plastic used to make Green Toys products saves energy equal to 3,000 AAA batteries,” Green Toys says. “That’s enough electricity to power a TV for three weeks or keep a laptop computer running for a month.”

Green Toys also packages its toys with as little material as possible. (Can you imagine a toy that’s easy to open?) The products are packaged in recycled corrugated boxes with no plastics, cellophane or twist-ties, and the boxes are 100% recyclable.

Hazelnut Kids

Hazelnut Kids, based in Michigan, sells natural, eco-friendly toys with a focus on the child’s development and the imagination. Its natural, battery-free, plastic-free toys encourage open-ended play and creativity.

Its wooden and bamboo toys are durable, which means they last longer and generate less waste, and they are made of recyclable resources, making their disposal gentle to the earth (unlike that giant plastic car probably still sitting in your garage).

Hazelnut Kids says these toys are for all ages, not only because of the obvious health reasons, but because they teach children early to pay attention to how their purchases affect the environment.

These toys provide “a great learning opportunity for our older children who are sponges – wanting to absorb and learn everything they can,” Hazelnut Kids says. “If we start setting an example when they are a young age … it will become second nature for them to consider the environment when making purchasing decisions as an adult.”

Planet Happy Kids

Planet Happy Kids, which sells toys in several eco-friendly categories, including “recycled” and “responsible,” tells the stories we want to hear.

Each toy description on the company’s website includes a section titled “We Love This Company Because,” which tells the customer how the toys are made and ethical and environmental characteristics of the toy manufacturer.

“We love Sarah’s Silks because their products not only inspire the imaginations of children everywhere, they are also easy on the earth!”

Planet Happy keeps thinking about the environment even after the toy leaves the shelf. As part of the company’s Tree Project it donates funds to plant a tree each time someone buys a product.

It’s safe to say that these companies make us happy.

We hope they continue to expand as people keep learning and demand for these toys keeps rising.

Hazelnut Kids says it best.

“We provide safe products for children – natural, non-toxic and organic – and peace of mind for the adults that care about them.”

- By Jessica Braun

Jessica Braun is an editor at Wholesome. She can be reached at jessica.braun[at]wholesome[dot]it.