HOW TO BUY ETHICAL TOYS

Buying New Zealand-made toys is possible, but the range is limited.

Simon Holdsworth, at the New Zealand Toy Distributors Association, which supplies Airfix, Playmobil and Sylvanian Families toys to retailers as well as craft and games, says buyers of big-brand toys can be sure of minimum labour standards and ethics.

But that is not the case for ultra-cheap, nonbranded toys from the likes of $2 shops, he says.

‘‘It always used to be the case that we didn’t get too much plastic coming across our borders. That’s changed over recent years. The amount of $2 stuff – there’s a lot more of it on the market. That’s not a good thing, I believe.’’ Mark Robertson, senior vice-president at the International Council of Toy Industries Ethical Toy Programme, acknowledged that what is currently missing for consumers is an online tool where a buyer can enter a product name to find out if it was made in an ICTI-audited factory, the name of the factory, and its audit report.

‘‘We know that consumers are looking for more information on how and where toys and children’s products are manufactured, and consumer labelling/ethical badging is something we are looking at with the industry,’’ he says.

Although ICTI has a factory lookup tool on its website, which allows anyone to check the certification status of any factory in the Ethical Toy Programme, ICTI does not even have a searchable database of toy companies that are members.