Childhood Toys

Writen by: Vanalika Kandpal

Edited by: Jeeya Mahajan

Toys are the one thing that we used to force our parents to buy, when we were young. Oh, and how could we forget about the latest shopkins collection that we used to die for, the new hot wheels garage and the iconic and legendary fidget spinner that used to be super trendy amongst youngsters during 2015-2016. You see once you grow old of these toy’s, many kids just throw them out forgetting about all the memories they made with that toy and the amount of joy they got when their parents agreed to buy it and how they would take it to school the next day and show everyone there. Well, it’s not just about that we are not looking at the bigger problem our toys have so much plastic in them and just so much unnecessary plastic that sometimes makes me wonder why does this one LOL doll have so much plastic on it and it's come to a point where we are producing 33million tons of plastic because of the toys that we force our parents to buy yeah that right 33 million tons of plastic talk about trying to save sea life and it’s not about that we already have a mountain of toys and we just ask for more why because we find joy in opening up a fresh plastic toy and enjoy the feeling there is some creature that doesn’t exactly have that feeling let's take turtles for an example researchers say that 52% of turtles have plastic in their guts somewhere affecting their health in facts in 20 years turtles will be extinct because currently, they are critically endangered you might be wondering is anyone doing anything about this, and actually the answer is yes the Lego company said it’s working to make its products more sustainable, but that’s still a long way off. The company is investing about $150 million into identifying and fulfilling eco-friendly alternatives to its current materials by 2030. In 2013, Hasbro the maker of Play-Doh promised to reduce its packaging material, eliminate polyvinyl chloride (a type of plastic) from its packaging, and increase its use of recycled content, GreenBiz reported. The company Waste Administration would like to see corporations employ recycled content to make the toys, and encourage consumers to donate old toys. Yoxo makes its toys out of recycled wood fiber and can be reused again once consumers are finished with them. Green Toys manufactures its products from recycled milk jugs, yogurt cups, and other types of redeemed plastic. “Overall, the sustainable toy market is still very much a recess type of thing,” Rho said. “You’re not going to find these sustainable options when you walk into Toys R Us. Or it’s going to be a very limited selection.”If buying sustainable toys isn’t an option, Rho suggests ascending back on the amount of items families buy for kids. “This will sound crazy coming from a toy company. Maybe you don’t buy a toy, maybe you exchange experience's, a trip to the zoo, or a great show,” Rho said. “It reduces clutter in your home and you’re not using so many natural resources.