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Choose toys made from recycled materials is a great way to support the recycling industry (which provides thousands of jobs nationwide) while keeping perfectly usable resources out of the landfill. Plus, making toys from recycled materials generally requires less energy and water, making them much more efficient to manufacture.

Find it! Toys made from recycled products

Recycled-content products are popping up everywhere and many toy companies now offer the opportunity to choose toys made from recycled materials. If you're thrifty or crafty, you can also choose recycled by making your own or picking up pre-owned toys at second hand stores. But if you're in the market for toys with as little hassle as possible, check out these

Choosing toys made from recycled materials helps you go green because…

• The materials used to make the toys are kept out of landfills.
• Manufacturing new toys does not require additional resources, or create new environmental hazards, when the plastic, metal, fabric, or wood used to make the toys are reused from existing items.

More than 3 billion toys and games are sold in the United States each year.[1] Most toys sold in the United States are made from plastic, conventional cotton and wool, wood, or clay. Each of these materials presents a unique threat to the environment and children’s health.[2]

In 1994, 71 million pounds of high-density polyethylene plastic were used to make toys, novelties, and sporting goods, according to the trade association, Society of the Plastics Industry.[3] Many plastic toys are made from PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, the manufacture of which contaminates our air and water with potent carcinogens called dioxins[2], or phthalates, which also pose risks to the environment and children’s health.

Plastic is made from petroleum, a non-renewable resource, the extraction and transportation of which can affect fragile ecosystems, and the combustion of which releases toxic chemicals and greenhouse gases into the air.[4] Toys can be made from recycled plastic drink containers, meaning that the plastics used to create the new toy do not require the use of the above-listed resources and do not place the environment at risk with the manufacture of additional plastics. And, using the drink containers to manufacture toys keeps waste out of landfills. Each pound of building logs made from recycled plastic drink containers, for instance, keeps at least 10 milk jugs out of landfills.[3]

Cloth toys made from recycled sweaters and other textiles are also available. The production of conventional cotton—the primary fabric used in cloth toys—relies heavily on the use of toxic pesticides.[5] By reusing existing fabrics, the production of more cotton is not required. And again, the original textile products do not end up in a landfill.

Bicycles are another toy that manufacturers are making available from recycled materials, with parts made from aluminum cans, industrial aluminum scrap, plastic containers, and reused steel frames, eliminating the need to dispose of the cans, containers and scraps.[3]

Buying books and games made from recycled paper also saves energy and resources. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), one ton of recycled paper saves 17 mature trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil, and 4,100 kilowatt hours of electricity.[6] Paper production is responsible for about one-fifth of the total wood harvest worldwide, and about 93 percent of today's paper comes from trees.[7] A single sheet of copy or writing paper might contain fibers from hundreds of different trees that have collectively traveled thousands of miles, potentially from timber logged in regions with ecologically valuable, biologically diverse habitat.[7][8] Recycled paper, meanwhile, uses 60 percent less energy to produce than regular paper, reduces water pollution by 35 percent and air pollution by 74 percent, and helps preserve forests.[9]

Glossary

• dioxins: Dioxins are extremely persistent chemical compounds that are created inadvertently by human activities like incineration and fuel combustion.[10] Dioxins break down slowly so they persist in the environment for many years. Exposure to dioxins may cause adverse health effects, such as cancer, reproductive and developmental disorders, and skin disease.[11]
• phthalates: Phthalates are additives that are widely used in plastics and other materials, mainly to make them soft and flexible. They have applications in industry, in medicine and in consumer products. There is public concern about phthalates because of their widespread use and occurrence in the environment.[12] Phthalates can damage the liver, kidneys, lungs, and reproductive system, particularly the developing testes, according to animal studies.[13]
• polyvinyl chloride (PVC): A strong plastic polymer that can be made flexible through the use of plasticizers. These plasticizers, not the PVC itself, can be toxic and carcinogenic. However, the monomer used to make PVC, vinyl chloride, is carcinogenic, posing a serious health threat to the people who work at factories where PVC is created.[14] PVC is often used to make teethers, bath toys, and other toys that young children play with, and often place in their mouths.[2]