Letting children play with discarded plastic toys can pose a health risk. When researchers from the University of Gothenburg tested a large number of old plastic toys and fancy dress items, 84 percent of the items were found to contain toxic substances that can interfere with children’s growth and development. The university writes this in a press release.
“The research indicates that reuse and recycling is not always automatically good. The transition to a more circular economy requires bans and other policies that remove hazardous chemicals from plastic and other materials. While the Toys Directive has been instrumental in reducing the incidence of hazardous chemicals in toys, it only applies to new toys, not old ones,” explains Daniel Slunge, environmental economist at the University of Gothenburg.
Toxic chemicals in most old toys
The dangerous chemicals discovered included phthalates and short-chain chlorinated paraffins used as plasticizers and flame retardants in toys.
Professor Bethanie Carney Almroth from the University of Gothenburg is researching the environmental impact of plastics and plastic-related chemicals. She led the research conducted at the interdisciplinary Center for Future Chemical Risk Assessment and Management Strategies (FRAM). For the study, researchers selected 157 different toys, new and old, and measured their chemical content.
The survey found that most of the older toys and items (84 percent) contained amounts of chemicals that exceed current legal limits. In total, 30 percent of newer toys and items also exceeded legal limits. However, by far the older toys were significantly worse.
“With the older toys, the concentrations of toxic substances were significantly higher. For example, many of the old balls were found to contain concentrations of phthalates totaling more than 40 percent of the weight of the toy, which is 400 times the legal limit,” said Bethanie Carney Almroth.
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Toxins an obstacle to a circular economy
EU legislation on the chemical content of toys, known as the Toys Directive, regulates the permitted amounts of a number of chemicals found in toys in an effort to protect the health and safety of children. Currently, the permitted limits for new toys under the Toys Directive are 0.1% by weight for phthalates and 0.15% by weight for short-chain chlorinated paraffins.