Most of you may know my daughter will turn 2 this coming Sunday, April 22nd and as a family trying to be more green and Eco-friendly we wanted to celebrate the fact her birthday falls on Earth Day. So I began to think of ways to make the event not only special but also more earth friendly including her gifts. And one of the ways to be more earth conscience is to offer toys that are made from recycled materials.

Green Toys Inc. makes an awesome line of classic children’s toys constructed from recycled plastic and other environmentally friendly materials. Green Toys use recycled milk containers as the main ingredient in creating all their toys. Yes, the exact plastic milk jugs that you and your family drink from every day. When you finish your milk and toss the container in the recycling bin, these milk containers are collected at your curb by a local recycling company, who then sorts them from all the other types of plastic. Next, the milk containers are reprocessed into super clean fresh plastic. For you plastic geeks, the plastic material they use is called high-density polyethylene (or HDPE). This material is considered one of the safest, cleanest plastics around.

All Green Toys products are 100% made in the USA. To be more specific, they are produced in California, a state known for strict toy safety and environmental laws. It’s cool to buy USA, but also think about this: transportation is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gasses. We all know driving less is good for mother nature, but did you ever think about how many miles a toy logs before it ends up in your local store?

Every step in the process, from milk container recycling to toy production to final assembly, occurs in California. Their raw materials and toys aren’t shipped from overseas, which saves a lot of energy and reduces greenhouse gasses. It also guarantees your toys won’t get seasick before they get to your home!

Green Toys environmental mission even extends to their packaging. They strive to minimize packaging, and all of their boxes use as little material as possible. All Green Toys products are packaged in recycled corrugated boxes with no plastics, cellophane or twist-ties, and are 100% recyclable. So, not only are they earth-friendly and ready for your recycling bin, they are really easy to open for those little fingers just itching to get at the toys!!

My Opinion:
I LOVE, LOVE Green Toys. When my oldest was two years old I remember seeing an ad in a magazine about how this company called Green Toys produces toys from old milk containers and I thought “how cool is that?!” Here is a piece of plastic that could sit in our landfills for thousands of years or we could take it and make it into something else. By giving it a second life we can help reduce our planet’s waste AND make a child happy. Sounds like a win-win to me!

I knew my daughters would love the Tea Set because they like to hold picnics in their playroom so I was so happy to see them playing…nicely together! And when Cailan opened the Pizza Parlor let’s just say she’s been asking for it every morning since. She loves making her own pizza and is even saying the names of the ingredients as she places them on the pizza. Honestly few of the best things about Green Toys is I feel good about the product and it’s safety AND I know as a parent I helped reduce our landfills…one milk container at a time.

Be sure to check out Green Toys on Facebook and Twitter!

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Disclaimer: The Centsible Family was provided one Green Toys Tea Set and one Green Toys Pizza Parlor for free to use at Cailan’s Earth Day Celebration Birthday Party in exchange for a review. All opinions are honest and true and no other compensation was given. Please see my full disclosure policy for more information.

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This post was written by Mackenzie

Mackenzie is the mother of two beautiful little girls and the wife to a wonderful man who is a Navy Reservist living in New Hampshire. She enjoys bargain hunting, photography, and of course COFFEE! Above all, she enjoys family life and soaking up every moment. She shares her tips on parenting, saving money, green-living and more on her blog The Centsible Family.