Since establishing IzziwizziKids.co.uk, I have been fascinated about how we can make it easy to buy toys and gadgets for children that don’t cost the earth – Literally. My own experience before establishing Izziwizzi Kids was and still is that most toys available in the mainstream shops seem to be mass produced in chemical based materials that often break and are not bio-degradable. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem that toys are regarded as impacting on the envrionment significantly enough in the scheme of all the other planet polluting activity that goes on in the world. So why can’t it be easy to buy for our children whilst being responsible for the environment and ensuring the social conditions of those who manufacture the products.
As I set about finding these eco products, there wasn’t much stimulating in the market. Products are often not particuarly educational as the focus is upon the materials and distribution methods. Why can’t we have toys that stimulate our children and are good for the environment? So I set to work by employing external experts to research materials that could be used in an environmentally sustainable way. These are the challenges that we faced…
1. Recycled materials are regarded as unpredictable in nature as (in laymens terms) they are made up of compounds stuck together with adhesive, so they can break which is not ideal for products that are likely to go into children’s mouths.
2. Despite the perception of being good for the environment, often the recycling process itself to process the material to be useable as a recycled material can be just as harmful to the environment.
3. The cost of production using some of the recycled material was way to high. Whilst it offers tremendous commedy value, a beach bucket made out of recycled wellingtons would have retailed at £100. I don’t think we would have sold many buckets.
Our ultimate goal is to continue to invest in research, so that we can confidently give products to our children that are safe and kind to the environment.
In the meantime, Izziwizzi Kids actively searches for products that are made from replinshable wood from sustained forests, sources suppliers who manufacture as locally to the UK as possible, suppliers who have an environmental and social conscience in their production methods and demonstrate quality. The quality of toys is of paramount importance to ensure that toys can be handed down for generations like they used to be, as is safety and conditions of workers.
Alison Boxall
Founder, CEO Izziwizzi Kids Limited.
November 14th, 2009 at 10:41 am
no way