We sell some brilliant ‘green’ toys for pre-schoolers at Great Green Toys but we’re wondering just how eco-friendly the toys our teenagers are playing with, are in 2008. Are the toys for big kids getting greener? Well, it seems not, as Greenpeace has said this month that Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are not doing enough to get rid of potentially harmful chemicals and metals from their games consoles.
Greenepeace examined materials used inside the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3), Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii and said that while all three machines complied with European laws, the consoles still contained harmful materials that “needed to be replaced”. Nintendo in particular, was slated by International Toxic Campaign co-ordinator Zeina Al-Hajj “Nintendo doesn’t have any environmental policies,we were shocked with Nintendo; it was our biggest surprise”

The report found that the PS3 and 360 both contained “very high” levels of chemicals, called phthalates, which are used to “soften” flexible materials like wires and cable coatings and Greenpeace is urging all technology firms to take immediate action to eliminate toxic chemicals from products.

These phthalates are not permitted in toys sold in the UK and Europe but apparently under EU regulations games consoles are not classed as toys. Al-Hajj said: “For us this is still a toy – and whether or not it’s a toy, we do not want these chemicals in our products.”

A Nintendo spokesman said “In order to ensure our products are safe for use by young children we also take into consideration the standards applicable to toys.”

You can see the full article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7407934.stm

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 10:47 am and is filed under Enviroment, Toys. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.