Many people are seeking to live more sustainable lifestyles to reduce their negative impact on the environment. In addition to recycling and making an effort to reduce your waste, an important step towards environmental change is being more conscious about the goods you purchase—including toys. While many toys are produced from non-renewable crude oil which is harmful to the environment, eco-friendly toys are made from more sustainable and less damaging materials. In addition, eco-friendly toys are typically safer. Eco-friendly toys are often made with fewer toxins which can cause skin rashes or a slew of negative health impacts in the case that your child ends up putting the toy in their mouth. With so many amazing eco-friendly toy brands for toddlers, there is no reason to settle for potentially harmful toys.
BiOBUDDi
BiOBUDDi offers a line of sustainable building blocks which are CO2-neutral and 100 percent recyclable. Their products are the first plant-based plastic toy building blocks. Instead of being made from non-renewable plastics, BiOBUDDi Building Blocks are made from a renewable material called Green PE. This material is derived from the sugarcane plant which is a renewable resource that absorbs carbon dioxide—a harmful greenhouse gas—as it grows. As such, planting new sugarcane offsets the CO2 produced during production, which makes BiOBUDDi Building Blocks a CO2-neutral product.
eco-kids
For those whose kids enjoy creative pursuits such as drawing, painting, or sculpting, eco-kids is a great environmentally friendly brand to try out. Working with eco-friendly U.S. manufacturers, they create various sustainable types of art supplies for children.
Their many different art products include sustainable finger paints, crayons, art pads, stamps, and eco-dough—a sustainable molding dough made with safe ingredients such as non-GMO flour, salt, organic rosemary oil, and FDA-approved soy-based organic and inorganic pigments.
Green Toys
As their name suggests, Green Toys is an environmentally-friendly toy brand for toddlers—they are highly sustainable and environmentally conscious. Their products are made entirely from recycled materials, primarily recycled milk jugs. Their wide array of toys includes bath and water toys, stacking cups, arts and craft toys, and roleplay toys such as toolsets or tea sets.
Green Toys works hard to ensure every aspect of their product is as eco-friendly as possible, right down to the ink they use on their packaging. In addition to creating products from recycled material, their packaging is also made from 100 percent recycled cardboard and doesn’t include any additives such as twist ties, blister packs, or cellophane wrappers, which create extra waste. They even use soy ink, which is natural, renewable, and biodegrades four times faster than petroleum-based ink.