Toy Shop Philippines-How To Choose Sustainable Toys For Your Child?
With climate change being a real threat to humanity and the planet, making sustainable choices is responsible and benefits you, your family, future generations, and the environment. A great way to buy sustainably is when shopping for your kids’ toys.
To many, the price point of eco-friendly toys is a concern – they are more expensive than their plastic counterparts due to the material cost, as well as craftsmanship and the time it takes to make them. However, if you are worried about the cost, you can always opt to buy eco-friendly toys second-hand or find them at toy swaps. As in other industries, supply only exists with demand, and your dollar is your vote. When you buy sustainable toys, you help increase their demand, which is ultimately the parameter for companies to choose what to sell, and it helps push them towards more ethical manufacturing practices and sustainable material sourcing. This is a way for you to contribute to changing the toy industry as a whole, making it safer for your child and more environmentally friendly for the planet.
If you’re only just pivoting towards plastic-free toys now, don’t throw away all the unsustainable toys your child already has. Throwing them away is wasteful and may make your child sad. Instead, commit to purchasing only sustainable toys in the future and adopting a quality over quantity mindset.
Mainstream Versus Ethically Made Toys
Most mainstream toys are made from plastic, wood, and sometimes metal. We all know that plastic is made from fossil fuels and is not biodegradable, taking centuries to break down into small pieces. On top of that, it can be harmful to children. Metal parts in miniature cars or airplanes aren’t as common as wooden or plastic toys and mostly appear in toys for older children. Wooden toys often seem to be sustainable, however, this depends on their harvesting and manufacturing process.
Sustainable toys are made from renewable, natural materials and are manufactured in an environmentally friendly way that does not release carbon or greenhouse gases. In addition, these toys are better for the environment as they biodegrade. Organic wool or cotton, for example, is beautiful and non-toxic and is the ideal material for dolls and soft toys. The most common materials for sustainable toys, however, are wood and natural rubber.
Wood
While most wooden toys are recyclable and biodegradable, they aren’t always ethically made. Due to illegal logging and deforestation, several organizations have focused on certifying sustainable and ethically made wooden products. If a wooden toy is clearly labeled, indicating the origin of its wood, and displays a high level of transparency, chances are, it was ethically manufactured.
Opt to buy toys certified by the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), a not-for-profit organization that ensures a business has responsibly managed forests in its supply chain. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the FSC has the most credible forest certification scheme. A popular toy brand that is FSC-certified is Le Toy Van & Tenderleaf Toys, which crafts environmentally friendly toys of superior quality, developed with the principles of Waldorf and Montessori educational practices in mind.
Some toys are made of repurposed or reclaimed wood, which is always a green choice as it decreases the demand for virgin wood from forests and prevents old toys from being destroyed and left to simply biodegrade.
Natural Rubber
A great material for ethical toys is natural rubber, as it is non-toxic, plastic-free, biodegradable, breathable, and can be sustainably harvested. Repurposed rubberwood which originates from South America is used for latex materials and products, including sustainable toys. Because rubberwood looks beautiful, is durable, and is easy to work with, it’s increasingly being used for making toys. A popular rubber toy that has been on the market for over 50 years is the hand painted toy Sophie la Girafe.
The Kiara’s Playground Difference
Kiara Playground is committed to only offering toys from brands certified to produce sustainably and ethically. Not only are all our products non-toxic, safe, and environmentally friendly, we also use biodegradable packaging to ensure we contribute to reducing pollution. Living and shopping sustainably can seem challenging, so we work hard to make it easier for you.
It’s in your hands to decide what your child plays with. By choosing responsibly and only selecting sustainable, ethically-made toys, you set a precedent for your child, family, and other mothers and contribute to a safer, healthier environment and future.
