Environmental Info for organic toys and organic baby skincare

ENVIRONMENTAL AND ETHICAL INFORMATION

Environmental and ethical benefits of organic cotton compared to conventional cotton...

By having a website which specialises exclusively in organic textile products, we do feel we have a responsibility to draw attention to the inadequately publicised, but very disturbing facts about conventional cotton farming. We really do only skim the surface here of what are, in fact, complex social and ecological problems which are directly caused by conventional cotton farming. By making the choice to buy organic, rather than non-organic cotton (regardless of whether you’re buying clothes, toys or any other cotton products), you are helping to improve conditions and eliminate health hazards for farmers, workers and their local communities, particularly those in developing countries. Cotton is one of the largest agricultural crops in the world. Globally, cotton alone accounts for approximately 3% of all agricultural land but conventional cotton farming is responsible for using a hugely disproportionate amount (about 25%) of the world's pesticides. Organic cotton farming has an increasingly important role to play in reversing the conventional cotton industry’s significantly negative effect on human health and the environment.

The impact of conventional cotton farming

It’s indisputable that conventional cotton production methods are incredibly devastating, not only to the environment and wildlife, but also to the cotton farmers, their workers and widespread surrounding areas and communities. The high levels of pesticides, herbicides, synthetic chemical fertilisers and various other toxic substances used cause water, soil and air contamination. With this in mind, the term 100% pure cotton, when referring to heavily chemically treated cotton, is something of a contradiction of terms.

Many of the harmful substances that are commonly used have been found to be toxic or carcinogenic, but health and safety regulations in developing countries are far from being on a parallel with UK standards. Consequently, many lives are lost annually from poisoning due to the chemicals that are used, mainly in developing countries, where protective equipment for the workers tends to be prohibitively expensive or simply not useable in tropical climates. The statistics are higher still of surviving victims, whose pesticide poisoning and other serious health problems are attributed to conventional cotton farming methods. 

Child casualties

The impact on human health isn’t limited to those who work with conventional cotton crops. Neighbouring regions become heavily polluted and in some areas of intense conventional cotton farming, the impact on human health is immense. Tragically, children too in these regions are amongst the casualties of the carcinogenic and poisoning effects of the very toxic chemicals. There is a wealth of information on the Internet documenting the scientific facts regarding this ecologically irresponsible method of farming. Please see our Links page for information on other websites.

Aral Sea

The Aral Sea in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, formerly part of the Soviet Union, was once the fourth largest inland sea in the world but the consequences of cotton farming in this area have turned it into the focus of one of the worst ecological disasters of our time.
	Two rivers which used to feed the Aral Sea were diverted to provide irrigation for the vast cotton farming industry in the region and consequently, the Aral Sea diminished in size considerably, leaving large parts of the sea bed exposed. It’s estimated that millions of tonnes of pesticides and other harmful agricultural chemicals coat the exposed sea bed and are whipped up by the wind and dust storms which spread them even further afield, contaminating the air, soil and dwindling drinking water supplies.
Millions of inhabitants in the regions are believed to be affected by the health hazards caused by the contamination, with disproportionately soaring rates of numerous health problems including stillbirths, birth defects and cancers, having been recorded in this region, as well as the highest rates of throat cancer in the world.

Increased employment

Organic cotton farming is more labour-intensive than conventional cotton and therefore provides increased employment opportunities for local workers. The toxic hazards that workers and the surrounding communities face from conventional cotton production are eliminated with cotton grown organically.

Conventional cotton farming practices costs lives

Ultimately, the human cost of conventional cotton agriculture is something that simply can’t be ignored and as consumers, we’ve the ability to make a difference by increasing the demand for products made from organically grown cotton fibres.

Natural pigmentation and dyeing

Some of our toys are entirely naturally pigmented with fibres from coloured varieties of the cotton plant. Others have undergone environmentally-friendly dyeing processes using benign, low environmental-impact, "reactive" dyes which are kinder to your baby and children’s skin and better for the environment.

Conserving resources...

At The Organic Toy Company, we’re committed to doing as much as we can to help protect the planet’s natural resources and to support ethical and fair trade practices. 

 

• We recycle or reuse virtually all of our office waste.
   
• At the time of writing, we are in the process of switching to green, sustainable energy.
   
• We do our utmost to use recycled, recyclable, reusable and biodegradable stationery and packaging and are continually exploring new sources of these.
   
• All of our professionally printed company stationery and promotional material is printed on 100% recycled paper by printers who specialise in environmentally responsible printing processes and vegetable-based eco-inks.
   
• Some orders need to be boxed for despatch – others are normally sent in padded Jiffy bags, made from recycled materials.  Where boxes are necessary for posting orders, we have arrangements with local businesses to reuse their redundant boxes, provided they’re sturdy and in good and clean condition.  This reduces commercial cardboard waste; allows packaging to be reused without undergoing an additional industrial recycling process; and allows us to keep our costs to you down.  We’ve also found that it’s particularly difficult to find suppliers of 100% recycled postal boxes, so re-using seems to be an ideal eco-friendly option.  As we’re selective about the condition of these boxes, demand may sometimes outweigh supply.  If this is the case, or if you’ve informed us at the time of ordering that you prefer your order to be sent in a new box, we’ll use new packaging instead.
   
• When gift wrapping toys, we use only acid-free, bleed-resistant, recyclable gift tissue paper in natural colours, tied with natural raffia.
   
• We do our very best to keep our packaging to a minimum, but we realise it’s important to find a balance between minimal packaging and ensuring your goods won’t turn up squashed or damaged!  Wherever possible and suitable, we re-use packing materials.
   
• In consideration of our carbon footprint, our preference is to buy products which have ideally been manufactured in the UK but organic toys are still a relatively new concept in the UK and as a result, there are limited ranges available.  This means that in order to provide a reasonable level of choice, and to ensure we offer only the best quality toys, most of our ranges do originate from Europe and, to a lesser degree, some may come from further afield.
   
• We do encourage all our customers to please try to recycle most, if not all, of the packaging that our goods arrive in.
   
  

 "Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing
because he could only do a little"