Keeping the new Toy Safety Regulation about safety

Toys made from discarded ocean plastic. A major move from plastic to paper packaging. The use of cork as main material. These are just three of the many examples of how the toy industry is supporting the EU’s “Green Deal” push. Our industry is ambitious and determined to be a driver of a more sustainable future. From the raw materials we use, to the claims we make and the labels we put on our packaging, upcoming policies will impact many facets of how we do business.?They will affect the design, the durability, the repairability and the way we dispose of our toys.

This week, the European Parliament’s Environment Committee will vote on amendments to the new Toy Safety Regulation. Some of the proposals have nothing to do with improving toy safety. In fact they won’t improve safety - they are about sustainability instead. This has thrown up a problem that is likely unintended but will hit the toy industry unfairly hard:

• Raw materials for many other consumer products such as clothing, furniture, leisure articles will not be subject to the same stringent sustainability rules as those for toys.
• Producers of those raw materials are mass suppliers of all industries. Under the new toy safety rules, those suppliers will have to adapt ONLY for the toy sector.
• The toy sector is a much smaller costumer than most others so the cost of asking for a toy-specific approach is going to be cripplingly high, particularly for the 99% of SMEs that make up the sector. Our suppliers will not think it’s worth adjusting for small customers. And then we will be stuck.

We have always accepted that toys are more strictly regulated on safety than other consumer products. We are big supporters of the current Toy Safety Directive – it has been hugely successful for ensuring safe toys. But every day children get dressed, eat, study, sleep …and it makes no sense that the clothes, food containers, school materials, bedroom furniture and many other products they encounter are not required to be as sustainable as toys.?

So let’s keep the new Toy Safety Regulation about safety.?For sustainability, don’t single us out. Policy makers should introduce sustainability standards for producers of all child-facing products at the same time.?This can be done through other EU horizontal legislation such as REACH, POPs and RoHS, which also applies to toys.

#toy safety; #tsd; #sustainability