My mind has been pondering the collision of ideas and facts that I have been experiencing this week. Specifically, the collision between the fantasy movie Barbie (at a cinema near you) and series three of the reality documentary The War on Waste (on ABC-TV).
But my thoughts are not about that movie. I haven’t seen it—I have only read a range of reviews of it. My thoughts are more about the facts presented by Craig Reucassel in the latest series of The War on Waste. Facts like: Australia uses over 10 million plastic bags a day — those same plastic bags are causing huge problems in our oceans — 85% of soft plastics from bags and packaging ends up in landfill — plastic is with us for centuries to come.
Of major concern is the infiltration of plastic into human bodies. Plastic is in our bloodstream and in our digestive system, as studies of human excreta show. Since a single plastic bottle takes approximately 450 years to decompose, the plastic rubbish left in our environment as “litter” simply breaks down into smaller plastics, known as microplastics, which end up inside marine animals and even inside our own bodies. Microplastics are a severe problem for wildlife as they are eaten and accumulated inside animals’ stomachs, causing health issues such as damaged organs or fatal intestinal complications.
Plastic is found everywhere. But in particular, plastic is the basis for so many children’s toys. And there are lots of toys being manufactured. Indeed, 60 million plastic toy Barbies were produced this year. With the release of the Barbie film, Mattel is expecting to produce 70 million this year. In 2022, Mattel’s Barbie brand generated gross sales amounting to about $US1.49 billion. Mattel recorded profits of $903 million in 2022.
The toy industry uses 40 tons of plastic for every $1 million in revenues and is the most plastic-intensive industry in the world. So that’s a lot of plastic that Mattel has used. 90% of toys on the market at the moment are made of plastic. Plastic toys can contain heavy metals such as lead or cadmium or other harmful chemicals such as dioxins.
This is why no plastic toys are bought in my household for our various grandchildren. Elizabeth does a fine job of sourcing toys made of wood or recyclables for their birthdays and for Christmas. (And no wrapping paper, either—we reuse decent paper wrapping or cloth bags for that purpose, too!). Other options we use are to buy tickets to “experiences” (museums or theatres) or a year’s subscription to “foster” a native animal in a zoo.
It is thought that soft plastic toys may contain more than 40 percent phthalates by weight. Phthalates have been linked to a number of reproductive health effects, including reduced fertility, miscarriage, birth defects, abnormal sperm counts, and testicular damage, as well as to liver and kidney cancer.
The production of toys has also been linked to child labor, sweatshops and modern day slavery in China where over 70% of the world’s toys are made. Barbies and many other toys are not fairly made or fairly traded.
There are so many important environmental and justice reasons to be careful not to get sucked into this voracious, destructive commercial enterprise. Do you really need that plastic Barbie? Do we really need all,our food to the wrapped in plastic? Do we really need to accumulate more and more plastic bags in our cupboards?
https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/consumption/other-products/environmental-impact-of-toys
An Informed Faith 