AIBU to think that our environmental awareness seems to go by the board

[helloclitty]

where children's toys are concerned.

I am guilty myself so I am not being judgemental but I am thinking that we should collectively be more responsible. I use my recycling bag when I shop and I cycle or walk my children to school, I try to reduce water and energy waste in the home BUT my house is full of plastic crap toys.

Aibu to think that we should totally stop buying plastic toys and stick to environmentally friendly ones even if it means our kids will have far less of them. And should we ask grandparents etc to stop too.

We never did party bags - we used to wrap up those little books you could buy for a £1 probably more now and call it a party present - they used to do stories like Mr Magnolia and other little classics like that. One year I even did it with packets of cress seeds. Not because I was green but because I couldn't stand the mindless waste.

I agree too. It fills me with horror when I look at all the utter shite that we are using natural resources to make.

We go for good quality second hand toys (stuff like lego/duplo from the charity shop or carboot for example) along with a few new things, usually poncey wooden ones (Grimms rainbow, toy food and animals and farm etc). We also sometimes buy something second hand, play with it for a month, then redonate it.

Also, we limit the actual number of toys they have. I am pretty ruthless about it - I am not up for having a sea of plastic shite filling my home for reasons both ethical and aesthetic. The toy storage is limited and so if it won't fit, then either something else has to go to make room for it, or it isn't coming in!

TBH with those beds the branding, the obsessive "everything has to have a character on it" culture, annoys me more than the wastefulness.

Although I suppose one feeds into the other because once the child grows out of the character they will need another bed!

I hate branding. Of course DCs love characters but I refuse to let it infiltrate every bloody thing. For example DD's duvets have stars and robots, not characters. I am struggling to find affordable non-character curtains though so I may have to go with Peppa.

"As far as recycling (giving to a second owner) many plastics can leak some of the poisonous materials they contain. "

Er, most modern plastics don't contain anything 'poisonous', especially if used for toys (and they were only ever in flexible plastic i.e. not lego)! Also the oestrogenic agents leaching into the water system are mainly from the contraceptive pill, not pthalates. ^is an environmental microbiologist so I do know what I'm talking about here, a lot of environmental groups don't check their science very carefully due to being full of crystal healing aura hippies so ignore that data and read Ben Goldacre on the plastics thing. www.badscience.net/2007/12/a-rather-long-build-up-to-one-punchline/

wibblybibble

very interesting and I agree less is more.

We are to blame though, parents I mean. We just need to say no don't we.

Wibbly

I bow to your greater knowledge and maybe you can make it clearer for me but I thought plastics containing PVC are known to be carcinogenic for example. And lots of household items contain PVC don't they?

fuzzpig

Yes indeed bloody branded everything sold to the pester power demographic.

Wibble did you watch that film that Ariel posted earlier?

I think PVC is carcinogenic if it's in contact with food which is why you are advised not to heat food in the microwave in plastic containers.

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=seal+killed+by+plastic&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=acZ&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&biw=1024&bih=629&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=39yO6cnmEKKJcM:&imgrefurl=blogs.reuters.com/adam-pasick/2009/10/23/victims-of-the-pacific-trash-gyre/&docid=a44VfBqO8cyUsM&imgurl=blogs.reuters.com/adam-pasick/files/2009/10/1255628127.jpg&w=875&h=667&ei=dNeCT8isEon80QXG5oSKBw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=336&sig=107866419283596868689&page=1&tbnh=134&tbnw=168&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0,i:80&tx=73&ty=45" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Here is my main gripe with the plastic culture.

I agree jakbutter. Until we get rid of this aversion to reusing stuff, then the problem will get worse and worse and we and everything else in the world will be swamped by plastic.

Why can't they re-use syringes? No one would seriously suggest re-using dirty syringes.

YAKBUTTER FFS!

I'm not sure about wood vs plastic but totally agree that toys shouldn't be disposable. eBay is great for getting plastic toys like Lego etc.

yakbutter
But everyone knows about plastic bags don't they. I just think the irony of people buying highly packaged products and plastic toys and carrying them in a hemp recycle bag is lost on some people.

I'm afraid that if everyone does know about plastic bags, then they don't all care.

Incidental fact - did you know that disposable plastic bag use in Wales had dropped by 90% since the 5p per bag charge was introduced. It just takes a little political will for dramatic effects to happenj.

Really?

But there has been a massive campaign about plastic bags how can anyone not know? Different if they don't care.

I admit I spent years with an aversion to second hand stuff. I was the grotty kid dressed in horrible jumble sale clothes. But it is different now - standards are higher and sites like eBay mean you can be more selective. DCs have lots of used stuff now, I wish I'd got over myself a lot sooner.

not where I live. The majority in Tesco's last week were using new plastic bags. About time supermarkets charged.

I thought that Tesco's now used biodegradable ones.

yak we use syringes because its an accurate way of measuring drugs, whereas a spoon isnt.
How would you know if syringe had been washed properly, or at all? What if one that had been used for cytotoxic meds wasnt washed properly and got used for your childs calpol? Its totally unreasonable and not somewhere id want to be making savings.
The reason bag useage in wales has reduced by over 90% is because we have to pay 5p, even for paper bags which really pisses me off. Its fine taking your bags to the supermarket but when you buy a £100 dress from John Lewis it feels a bit shit putting it in yoyr Asda bag for life.

As for plastic toys, im not going to stop buying dcs what they have asked for at Xmas (within reason) just because its not environmentally friendly. If you want to moan about toys maybe you could direct it at the bloody endless packaging it comes it.

I had heard that biodegradable bags - whether paper or plastic - were still very harmful due to fumes released when degrading took place?

Kladdkaka, Tesco's and other shops are misleading with the biodegradable myth which actually cause worse environmental damage than non biodegradable bags. When plastic breaks down into tiny pieces, it doesn't disappear, but it is then ingested by more parts of the ecosystem e.g. fish, birds, causing a massive knock on effect up and down the food chain. And each tiny fragment acts like a magnet for surrounding pollutants like PCBs, which are known to cause infertility and damage the immune system of animals like seals and dolphins. Even tiny planktonic creatures are polluted with plastic fragments. Animals which are top of the food chain are the ones who amass the most pollutants, and plastic is included in this. When a dead animal is washed up on the beach it has to be treated as toxic waste.

Admittedly I know more about the effects of marine pollution than terrestrial, but it would be better if the litter remained whole and visible, and given that we are surrounded by and depend on the oceans, then you cannot separate the two.