The topic of plastic waste is one of the more depressing ones to discuss even today, in the middle of 2020. What makes it so depressing isn’t just the fact that plastic waste has basically incalculable negative effects on our environment, on the climate, and even on our own health. What makes it even more unpleasant to discuss is that we’ve been talking about it for decades and things are still getting worse. It’s one of those constant reminders that we, human beings, just don’t learn fast enough.
Yes, things are being done about it. One good example is the Ocean Cleanup initiative. Organizations like that of Boyan Slat are crucial for remedying the problem and curbing its effects. But we need to do more. The stats show clearly that just trying to clean up our own messes is not enough – we need to become less messy as well.
And isn’t this a basic lesson we try to teach our children anyway? Why is it that adults haven’t learned it yet? And we do need to talk about our kids in particular here as they play a large role in the global plastic waste problem.
When we talk about reducing waste, we’re really talking about reducing the manufacturing of plastics. There are lots of areas where we can do that and some, where we can’t.
Plastic is intertwined in a lot of essential businesses and practices today. From food processing machines to medicine and clothing, plastics are everywhere and will continue to be used. Even things we’re used to viewing as “non-essential” such as computers and smartphones require some form of plastic. We can lower our use of them by not changing our smartphones every year and not buying so many clothes, but we’ll still need to buy at least some.
One thing we can do 100% without, however, are plastic kids’ toys. It sounds funny to say, but plastic children’s toys may just be one of the biggest problems we have today.
The role kids’ toys play in plastic waste
We’re used to seeing plastic water bottles and rubber flip flops when we’re talking about landfills or plastic waste in the ocean. The plastic bottles industry is indeed problematic but another major contributor is kids’ toys. A 2014 report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has determined that “the toy industry belong[s] to the group that uses plastic most intensively in products.”
Thankfully, the problem has not remained unnoticed. More and more toy brands are taking steps to limit single-use plastics in their manufacturing process. Big companies like Hasbro have announced that they plan to phase out plastic packaging before 2022. Other organizations like ecoBirdy are actively working to help with the recycling of children’s’ plastic toys. Unfortunately, kids’ toys from recycled plastics present a whole new set of dangers, as shown by this Arnika report.
So, what can we do? Stop buying so many pointless, simple, boring, and straight-forward plastic toys!
This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t buy any kids’ toys. Many are made out of metal or wood which are much better options than plastics. And many others like Rubix cubes, alphabet blocks, constructors, and so on, at least have long usability cycles and can be played with for years and even by multiple generations of kids. And how about coloring books, crayons or just good ol’ standard books? All these make for amazing toys and presents.
But the plastic toys found on the check-out lines of every single store? The flimsy cars, bikes, and dolls that break after several days of use? And that’s if our kids even play with them that much – most of these toys are so boring that the kids toss them aside after half an hour of play. Toys like that don’t even deserve to be called toys – they are just plastic waste, waiting to be paid for and then thrown away.
And it’s not just cheap toys that are the problem – major, expensive brands also produce so-called “waste toys” as well and very often throw them away before they’re even sold. Just take a look at what Disney is doing with whole heaps of their own Star Wars merchandise.
The simple reality is that we, at least in the developed world, live in consumer-driven economies. Yes, it’s the big companies that produce the plastic toys, they market them, they sell them, they create the problem. But we, the consumers, are the ones that incentivize them to create it with our wallets. We give them the carte blanche to create the problem and we are the ones who can stop it by just buying less plastic waste.
The negative effects simple toys have on the kids themselves
To make matters worse, the pointless plastic toys we’re talking about are bad for our children as well. Even if we ignore the problems of plastic waste, consumable microplastics, the use of finite resources, and so on, the toys themselves aren’t something parents should want for their kids.
Most basic plastic toys hinder our kids’ cognitive development
We talk a lot today about how bad it is to raise our kids on their iPads, laptops, and even just on TV, and how they need to play with simpler toys. And that much is true but what toys they’re playing with also matters.
A report published in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) called “Selecting Appropriate Toys for Young Children in the Digital Era” offers a lot of good examples and explanations for toys beneficial to our kids’ development. Pediatricians recognize that cognitive stimulation is an important part of children’s playtime if we want them to grow up smart, healthy, ambitious, imaginative, and successful.
“Play is essential to optimal child development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth” the report states.
The problem is that straight-forward toys like cheap plastic cars and dolls don’t really achieve that. They are flashy and interesting, and our kids really want them when they see them in the store, yes. But they are not what the kids need.
Instead, kids need toys that are both physical and interactive. Puzzles, building blocks, coloring books, toys that engage them and make them think. As a bonus, toys that help them socialize by playing with other kids or with their families are also great.
And, hey, if plastic dolls or cars do that for your child and if you know that your kid will play with them a lot – sure, there’s nothing wrong in getting such a toy. Especially if it was made out of renewable resources. But the reality is that most of the time, these toys are left unused and wasted.