Environmental Issues         

Remember! All the toys which are made have an impact on the environment.

For stuff about PLASTICS look here

If you mine metals out of the ground you have a lot of waste rock and stuff that you don't want, it has to go somewhere. Usually on great heaps in the countryside which are eventually grassed over. Think of all the energy which is used melting the rock to get the metal from it. Would you like to live next to a waste rock heap? These rock heaps (often called slag heaps) can be dangerous, in one case many years ago in Wales, a great deal of rain caused one to slide and it crushed a school and almost everyone in it. Things need to be thought out carefully to avoid disasters.

One good thing is that metal can often be recycled and used again for other things. Steel cans are melted and may re-appear as a car for example.

Wood is a natural material and can take hundreds of years for certain types of tree to grow and it can take a few minutes to cut them down. These days trees are often cut from managed forests and for each tree cut, two or more may be replanted. In my school we only buy timber from managed forests or use recycled wood which we machine clean. One example might be an old mahogany school desk which is cut up and machined into pieces suitable for making a jewellery box. Did you know that just recently (February 2006) a huge landslide of mud swept down a mountain and covered a village in  the Philippines killing almost 2000 people. The cause it was thought was cutting all the trees down and the roots then no longer held the earth together. Did you know that trees use up carbon dioxide which reduces the global warming effect. Cut them down and global warming increases.

Toys are often packaged to make them look good. The packaging is usually cardboard (made from pulped wood) so you should recycle it! The window in the box is often plastic which makes the cardboard difficult to recycle. Think before you buy!!!!! Some  firms which produce wooden goods are now burning their waste to heat the factory rather than throw it away. Do you know how they make thin sheets of plastic which makes the window in the packaging through which you can see inside the box? No? Look here its called calendaring