Recycled Toys
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More Trash Is Becoming Kids’ Treasure by Phil Guie
ore products that would have once ended up icals, or additives. Also, that it’s made in an environin the garbage stream are now being recymentally safe way.” cled into toys. Manufacturers are taking maFurlong has noticed an increasing number of toys terials that were formerly considered to be waste and made out of recycled wood pulp or scraps left over from creating new playthings from them. processing, as well as a trend toward rubberwood, which One of the best-known recycled toy producers to is timber from rubber trees after all the natural latex has date is Green Toys. The California-based company grinds been extracted. In 2010, PlanToys, a Union City, Calif.up discarded plastic milk jugs, melts them into pellets, based company that has long used rubberwood, introand then uses injection molding to turn them into vehiduced PlanWood, a new material consisting of cles, teethers, and more. Along with the environmental rubberwood debris created from toy production. Instead benefits that come from recycling the containers, which of throwing it away, the debris is reclaimed, mixed with are made of high-density polyethylene, the milk jugs organic pigments, and exposed to pressure and heat. make for sturdy, dishwasher-safe toys. PlanToys’ current toy lines are made from a comAccording to Robert von Goeben, who co-founded bination of solid wood and PlanWood, and the company Green Toys in 2007, there has been a noticeable shift in intends to utilize the latter in its future products. Kosin the values of parents, who are more discerning about toys Virapornsawan, president of PlanToys, says the overall My First Green Toys First Keys than before. “The trend nowadays is parents shop for toys response to PlanWood has been very positive. “Our fans the way they shop for food,” says von Goeben. “Safety, locality, things know that we have been green since the beginning,” he says. “Producing that have good impact on the Earth. Parents take that same buying criteria PlanWood just made us more sustainable as a manufacturer of toys.” and apply it to toys.” Virapornsawan says consumers realize that toys are becoming a large This kind of eco-consciousness has been beneficial to makers of re- source of waste, which bodes well for toys made from recycled materials cycled toys. Green Toys began as a small, three-person enterprise, but now and other sustainable processes. “More and more people see that we need its products are carried by 1,500 specialty retailers, as well as on ama- to think about what the future will look like for our children,” he says. zon.com. Meanwhile, more companies are making toys out of recycled “We need to take the steps now and teach our kids to have an appreciation materials than ever before, and base materials have grown beyond plastic and awareness of our fragile planet, and why not start with what they love to include recycled paper, glass, and wood. to play with?” l Breah Furlong, the store manager of Planet Happy, a toy shop located in Seattle that specializes in green, natural, and socially responsible products, has seen the increased demand for recycled toys first-hand. When parents approach her about purchasing toys made from reused materials, many of their initial concerns have to do with how the items are made— especially for plastic. “A lot of people ask, right off the bat, ‘Why is this plastic?’ ‘Why are you carrying it in the first place?’” Furlong says. “Then we explain that [in the case of Green Toys], there’s no BPA, PVC, chemPlanToys Hand Sign Numbers 1-10
DECEMBER/JANUARY 2014
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SPECIALTY TOYS & GIFTS