These pictures illustrate one of the reasons I don’t like plastic toys – it doesn’t take long for them to be thrown away. They typically last only a few years and then at best they end up in land fill. At worst they end up being dumped in local bushland and make their way into waterways, ending up in the ocean (where they cause all sort of problems for marine life).
I see dumped toys in bushland far too often. I spotted these only last week.
When buying toys I consider how likely is it that the toy will last long-enough to be played with by Little Eco’s future Children. If it’s not likely to last that long I won’t buy it.
Speaking of plastic toys, have you encountered Greenpeace’s current campain about Mattel and toy packaging? This video of Ken discovering Barbie is ‘into deforestation is sort of cute. Greenpeace launched the campaign because it says Mattel has been destroying rainforests in Indonesia for disposable packaging. Of course, Mattel is only one of many toy companies using the same unsustainable cheap paper source. Hopefully the campaign leads, not only to the big toy companies ensuring their packaging is not sourced from companies linked to deforestation, but also to a reduction in the amount of packaging. The over-packaging of toys is absolutely ridiculous!?
Almost as ridiculous as single-use plastic hangers!?
