Benefits of Recycling Toys

Children toys can be recycled as a whole, or at least, in parts.

• Electronic waste accounts for more than half of the overall toxic waste found in landfills.
• In addition to valuable metals like mercury.
• These materials can contaminate soil, as well as drinking water.

• Toys with lead paint are dangerous and should not be given to children. While lead exposure can be dangerous for everyone, young children are especially at risk because they absorb lead more easily than adults and are more susceptible to its harmful effects.
• Also, most adults aren’t constantly putting objects into their mouths. Even low-level exposure may impair the intellectual development, behavior, size and hearing of infants.
• If you discover a toy in your home that contains lead, it should be returned to the manufacturer.

• Batteries contain heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium and nickel.
• Recycling batteries keeps these heavy metals out of landfills and the air.
• When incinerated, certain metals can be released into the air or can concentrate in the ash produced by the combustion process.

• The manufacturing of PVC requires the largest single use of chlorine gas in the world (roughly 40 percent of total chlorine production or 16 million pounds per year).
• The petroleum and energy consumed in production from virgin plastics releases far more carbon dioxide than that of recycling.
• The release of chlorine, mercury, lead, cadmium and other potentially hazardous chemicals into the environment are reduced when vinyl toys are recycled.

Find out more information on the environmental recycle toys or any of these individual components of toys using Earth911.