Freestylin\\\’

Well, folks. The Plastic Scare isn’t just a scare, it’s a nightmare reality.

Sitting in the ocean right now (the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, as it’s called) exists a mountain of plastics that will never, ever break down. Ever. With no exaggeration. Even if you could manage to break it up into a billion pieces, it will still be a billion pieces that still exist and float around and go into the marine life, affecting their hormones. This part of the ocean draws debris to it, and back in the day, that debris used to biodegrade normally. Now, it hosts a range of plastic mean enough to populate Plastic Planet.

On a more homebase level, many baby and toddler toys are made of plastic. Now, you would think that a company wouldn’t make a toy out of a material that would be harmful to babies. That, however, is not the case — some polymers don’t bind and just sit next to each other, and these particles winds up in your baby’s belly. Does it effect them? This plastic debris, called pthalates, have traces of estrogen, which we all produce — but having extra isn’t necessarily a good thing. Plus, it’s just bad for our already deteriorating environment. Some plastics are fine for babies. Many are not, and it’s hard to tell because the toys tend to not be labeled. For the ones that are, 1 or 2 are safer (but not necessarily safe). You can look at Greenpeace’s website to get a gist on safer and unsafe PVC toys. Try opting for wood, metal, or cloth instead.

It’s a great opportunity to support local and independent toymakers as well. I recently bought a really cute bumblebee on wheels made of wood with a baby safe finish on it. It’s much more safe if my son decides to chew it into oblivion. Another idea is to hand make dolls out of old clothing! I have some clothes that are too worn to sell or donate, so I’ve been thinking I could “fashion” these (har har) into my own version of the Ugly Dolls. Just fashion a pattern on some newspaper and stitch the face on! Who knew my American Apparel leggings with the holes in the crotch could be saved?

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