Eco-Friendlier Wheeled Backpack

I’ve known all summer that I’ll be writing a back-to-school review for wheeled backpacks, but it’s taken me months to find a company that sells a more eco-friendly backpack that has wheels!  You know the backpacks on wheels that congest school hallways? …why yes!  I finally understand why they are so popular. I have a son that simply cannot manage a large, full-day school backpack. He complained of neck and back pain all last year and I would watch him walk from my car in the morning struggling to balance his full back-pack into the school. I knew this quest would be difficult because although there are many green backpack options – they don’t have wheels. My search ended when I discovered Lands’ End where I found a backpack on wheels that is PVC-free and mad without flame retardants. Would I have liked recycled materials and locally made? Of course, but these just don’t exist yet and I like to give large companies a positive nod when they are making responsible decisions like not using PVC.  The backpack arrived a few days ago for me to review and I love it. More importantly, so does my son. One tip I learned when purchasing a backpack online is you need to gauge the size of the backpack compared to your child. The Lands’ End site does a great job with showing you with each backpack design how it measures and how tall the child should be.  Click here to see an example of this chart – I would have requested the wrong backpack without the help of this diagram.

The backpack for Angelo has a handle that adjusts to two different levels and it reaches quite high – my older son could use it no problem and he’s tall. The child can also wear the backpack because shoulder straps tuck out of a secret zippered compartment if you decide to ‘wear’ the pack on your back. The kids like the cool factor with this!  There are also different compartments inside the backpack…a sleeve for lunches to be tucked in and separate from papers and books – this can be a bonus when a child’s lunch leaks. Also, a must for me…pockets on either side for reusable water bottle. Most of my stainless steel water bottles leak now…I don’t really care, but they need to be upright in a backpack otherwise all of the books get wet.

So heading back to school, if your child needs a backpack with wheels to give his/her back a break…think of Land’s End. They are a large company, that can provide very quick turnaround for service/questions and have lots of designs that kids & moms will enjoy.  I’ll post my back-to-school supplies recommendations next week, along with my picks for sending your child to school with a litterless lunch system.

Related Posts:

Skip Licensed Backpacks and Check out Ecogear

Car Seats and Flame Retardants

Flame retardants are chemicals I’m always on the lookout for.  These chemicals are often applied in combinations and they are added to materials (all various kinds) during manufacturing to reduce the material catching on fire or slowing down the combustion process. When I was researching for my article on greener life jackets I assumed that the US and Canadian governments are the ones mandating flame retardants be added to products. Healthystuff.org tested over 150 children’s car seats and over half (60%) tested positive for brominated flame retardants, PVC, and/or heavy metals.  Brominated flame retardants are particularly scary because of how persistent they are in the environment (they don’t break down) and their accumulation inside the food chain and human bodies. With the sensitive developing systems of babies in car seats and for the length of time some are in their seats, this research one by Healthystuff.org is getting a lot of attention.

After learning about greener product foam (GAIA foam) rather than PVC based foam I asked 11 of the top car seat manufacturers if they had considered an ‘all natural’ car seat. If you think about it, new parents invest hundreds of dollars in organic mattresses and bedding all to avoid flame retardants, PVC, and other chemicals. Why not give them the option with car seats? A few of these companies got back to me, but not with any encouraging information. I’m mean how hard is it to replace toxic foam inserts with wool and ensure the materials are organic and lead free for the plastic buckles? We are already expecting to get charged through the nose for an option like this…it’s okay.  Go ahead.  Some of us will pay for it.

As quoted from the Healthystuff.org article summary, in the 2011 testing, car seats containing brominated flame retardants declined by 18% but some companies continue to use more potentially hazardous brominated flame retardants compared to their last tests in 2009. Hmm and three of these are Baby Trend, Recaro, and Britax. Makes me happy I never used the Baby Trend play pen I received for my first son. Think about products that are padded.  Obviously babies need padded products to ensure safety, but before purchasing you need to ask and research how if the company is/isn’t using flame retardants. We are talking about play pens, highchairs, play mats, car seats, mattresses, swings, etc.

There are better car seats and worse car seats when researching chemical exposure. These brands are listed here from the Healthystuff.org testing.  The top three for each include:

Worst 2011 Car Seats:

Infant Seat: Graco Snugride 35 in Edgemont Red/Black & Graco SnugRide 30 in Asprey
Convertible Seat: Britax Marathon 70 in Jet Set & Britax Marathon in Platinum
Booster Seat: Recaro Pro Booster in Blue Opal & Recaro ProSPORT Toddler in Misty

Best 2011 Car Seats:

Infant Seat: Chicco KeyFit 30 in Limonata, Graco Snugride 35 in Laguna Bay & Combi Shuttle 33 in Cranberry Noche
Convertible Carseat: Graco Comfort Sport in Caleo, Graco MyRide 65 in Chandler and Streamer, Safety 1st OnSide Air in Clearwater, and Graco Nautilus Elite 3-in-1 in Gabe
Booster Seat: Graco Turbo Booster in Anders

Yes, reports like these make all parents want to throw up our hands and trash items like this, BUT remember these are car seats we are talking about. They are important and need to be used no matter what the rating is from Healthystuff.org. And, this report was probably done to raise awareness for people in the market for new car seats when expecting babies. I have 3 booster seats in my van right now that are used everyday.  They are not 2011 models so it might be hard to figure out what level of flame retardant exposure they have.  But they will stay planted firmly in my van because when I purchase items like this I already have an awareness that these products contain this crap. I know because I didn’t pay an arm and a leg for them and when you are dealing with foam and cheap plastic…you will probably find flame retardants and PVC. Especially if these products were made several years ago. I hope the results from Healthystuff.org has a trickle effect in two areas of consumerism: 1) the companies listed using high amounts of chemicals will experience some significant loss of sales 2) will get parents asking questions. Only when a company has heard the same complaint and the same questions from thousands of parents will they do something to change their manufacturing protocols. Remember that flame retardants are added to materials when they are manufactured. If our governments are mandating that flame retardants be added, then I want the big companies giving me some alternatives than meet flame retardant testing without chemicals (wool, mineral based flame retardants, etc.). If the government is not mandating that flame retardant chemicals be added to these products…give parents the option of buying products that haven’t been coated or sprayed in flame retardant chemicals.

Heathly Crafting with Children

This article has been tough to write because the crafting world is gigantic…it’s impossible to try and cover the thousands of products that crafty people have in their cupboard. I walk into a Michaels store and I’m overwhelmed by two things: the varied depth of their craft materials and how much of it is imported & very cheaply produced. So much of that stores reminds me of the dollar store and it makes me nervous. I’m an average person on the scale of crafty – my children have always loved painting and making little projects, but with the inevitable smell that comes from opening specific paints, glues, and inks, I’m admittedly a little skeptical of how healthy these supplies actually are.

The inspiration for this article comes from a woman in the US, named Julia Andrus, who created a line of crafting materials after surviving a self described ‘mean’ cancer. Julia realized her exposure to even low levels of toxic materials in craft supplies could have contributed to her chemical exposure. On a mission to change her lifestyle and environment, Julia created EcoGreen Crafts and I guess it’s because an avid crafter created this line of products, the quality is as effective and amazing as traditional supplies. I’ve found in the past that sometimes using plant-based crafting products you loose some of the texture in paint and glue. This isn’t the case with the acrylic paint and Green Glue and is the reason I’ve stocked Green Planet Parties with these products. Just like my claim with the O’Bon pencil crayons (best I’ve every used) I can say the same about the EcoGreen Crafts Acrylic Paint.  They are amazing!  I asked some seriously crafty people to test the acrylic paint and everyone reports back loving it! It’s creamy, comes in a great sized tube, and there is no scent because the non-metallic shades of these paints are no-VOC. The metallic paints in this line are anchored to a No-VOC base, but end up being low-VOC after the metal pigment has been added. The popular 6 colors I’ve chosen to carry are popular with children and contain no volatile organic compounds. These paints are not manufactured in North America and that is reflected in the price point. These non-toxic paints are priced equally to traditional acrylic paints which is wonderful…parents love switching to same priced greener products, but while the price would increase, I hope they are one day manufactured in the US. If you’ve been searching for plant based white glue? This all-purpose green glue is great for back-to-school shopping.

For parents that enjoy painting with powdered paint, setup your environment with plant based so that powder cannot be inhaled that may contain lead. There are several paints on the market that use plant based pigments..the only brand I’ve tried is GLOB and these paints are manufactured in the US. As far as paint brushes go – I’m actively researching a ‘greener’ paintbrush. It’s actually a very difficult product because you are dealing with two issues: the handle and brush materials. If you go for a non-synthetic brush you might have anxiety about the methods used to obtain real animal hair for the brush…and these brushes are super expensive. ‘Greening’ up the handle of paint brushes is relatively easy because there are bamboo brushes on the market, but I’ve yet to find a brush I’m happy with at an affordable price.

Hands down – this point is the most important for providing healthier sculpture based craft material for your child! Don’t ever waste your money again on store bought play dough. From the amount of traffic and comments on this article “The Perfect Home Made Play Dough Recipe!” I know how many parents have discovered how easy, affordable and fun making your own play dough can be. Kids love to sculpt and it unleashes free-play at it’s best for young children and since you’ve made the dough yourself, you don’t need to worry if a small piece ends up in a child’s mouth. I’ve also experienced headaches from the synthetic scent from store bought play dough. Another sculpting product that shouldn’t be sold or wind up in your home is polymer clay that is used for sculpting small figurines…it’s made from PVC! Invest in clay that is packaged and marked ‘non-toxic’ and PVC-free. The dollar stores are not where you should be purchasing materials like this…there are no sort of guidelines it seems for this material. The amount of incorrect information on the internet about polymer clay is disturbing. Many crafting sites list polymer clay as a safe material even though it contains PVC and phthalates…it’s disturbing. I don’t have a source/brand for an alternative to PVC based polymer clay but I will post in the comments when I find one.

I was spoiled years ago when trying Clementine Art crayons – they were like applying butter to paper. I think all children would miss the variety of colors that you can achieve with a box of Crayola crayons, but traditional crayons are manufactured with paraffin wax which is petroleum. There are many brands of soy or beeswax based crayons if you are looking to ‘green’ your art supplies. I think the soy brands offer more color options, but I have only had the pleasure of using beeswax based.

Pencil crayons and pencils can easily be ‘greened’ with O’Bon. I’ve written about this brand before and love that these pencils are not produced by trees, but made from recycled newspapers. Not only is the story behind O’Bon cool, but I’ve never been happier with the pencil crayons. The quality is amazing and children love the fruit or wild-animal designs.

You can tell from the length of this article the crafting world is a vast area to try and write about in one article. For those searching for North American made craft sets which are convenient and make a great gift – check out the new brand Artterro I found at My Little Green Shop. Just one look at the packaging and you know this brand is different. I can’t wait to try these kits with my kids – not only are the supplies made of higher quality (glass beads vs. plastic, felt wool, handmade paper) but many of the components are made in the US. The craft world has seemed slow to manufacture locally – the concern of course that crafting will no longer be an affordable pass-time. It’s nice to see companies like Artterro putting an emphasis on this and side stepping the norm of producing craft kits that are filled with questionable ingredients – both for human health and the environment. Differences that impress me are the wool felt dresses in the Art Dolls Kit, copper wire & wooden handles (!!) in the amazing Bubble Wand Kits (eeep I love these!!), and for the older crowd the Paint with Wool Kits are very unique. Imagine encouraging a child to felt? It’s incredible that the boxes that Artterro supplies are packaged in can be transformed into frames to later showcase art work. Pictured below are the finished kits from Artterro with bubble wands and felt painting.

I hope this gives you a starting point to help green your craft supplies. It’s a huge undertaking, but like greening your bathroom or kitchen, I recommend starting with baby steps and incorporating these changes when you’re looking to replenish art supplies. Look for crafts with No-VOCs (Volatile Organic Compound) which are the chemicals that produce off-gassing vapors. Packaging is a great way to improve your craft supplies and look for supplies marked ‘non-toxic’, made with soy or beeswax, PVC-free and phthalate-free. I’ll have more recommendations coming in August because once again I’ll be putting together my own school supply boxes for my children with an effort to create kits that are more sustainable and chemical free. Stay tuned and please share your experiences with sourcing better quality craft supplies.

Related Posts:

Wildlife Pencils Produced from Recycled Newspapers

Clementine Art – Naturally Artistic

Finding A More Eco-friendly Life Jacket

I normally suffer from consumer paralysis – a term you’ll hear more often with parents feeling like they can’t purchase everyday items without researching them first. I definitely suffer from this and whenever I make an ‘on the fly’ type purchase without researching first, I’m never usually satisfied with my decision. Just coming off a very busy week with the kids last crazy week of school activities before they are done for the summer, I decided to purchase life jackets for my twin girls while I was in Canadian Tire. What do I know about life jackets?  Yesterday I didn’t know much…today I do. At the time I made my decision not based on price – there were cheaper life jackets there, but most of them had Microban advertised on the tag. What is Microban and why don’t I want it on a vest my kids will wear?  It’s a chemical that coats the outside of a product and is marketed as a ‘bonus’ to the life jacket because of it’s antimicrobial solution that will help combat mold, etc. I don’t want this added chemical near my kids and their skin, so I decided to pick the brand that didn’t have Microban on the label. At the time this was my only marker for making a better decision. When I got to the till and asked the person helping me, I also asked if the life jackets had PVC and flame retardants. They did not know. Why was I asking about flame retardants? Life jackets have foam inserts to make the jackets float…this is a question all parents should ask when purchasing anything for their children that has foam inside. More info here.

A few hours later I noticed a 1-888 number on the life jackets I purchased so I called it with my questions. The customer service representative put me on hold to ask their production department if they add flame retardants to the product. He got back on the line with me and said he wasn’t allowed to tell me the answer. (!!) Apparently it depends on which country you live in and the government decides if flame retardants are added to products…not the manufacturers themselves. I spent hours this morning looking through Canadian gov. websites looking for a list of products they mandate include flame retardants in order to be sold in Canada…I only came up with the obvious products we already know about: mattresses, PJs, car seats, etc. I will assume that yes, my Government would mandate flame retardants within the foam of a life jacket. Why? Because both North American governments are very behind the times and overuse flame retardants in so many products….especially the US. Also, once I got the life jackets home, the smell of PVC was evident, so I no longer needed to ask the question if they contained PVC. Also I’ve learned that all cheaply made items usually contain PVC as a material because it’s the cheapest and when it’s not used, a company will advertise this fact on the label. So long story short, the life jackets were returned today. I actually felt bad for the Canadian Tire customer service rep when she asked me “why are they being returned?’.

So this morning I took to the internet and tried to research greener life jackets. I didn’t find much on-line which is surprising. The only types I could find that looked like a greener option contained a foam called Gaia foam. This apparent eco-friendlier foam ensures that the foam in life jackets doesn’t contain PVC, halogen, and phthalate plasticizers. Looks like this foam is replacing mats made from EVA or PVC (petroleum products) in yoga mats because it’s chemical resistant, naturally resist fungus (making this material ideal for water products like pfds and workout mats that might absorb sweat), is fire resistant and self extinguishing. Hmmmm looks like car seat makers could be using Gaia foam to make booster seats and car seats for children, but I’ll save that for another article. Back to life jackets…

I called two camping equipment type stores in my area and one of the sales people at Atmostphere was amazing with product knowledge. He recommended the Stohlquist WaterWare line for PFD (personal floatation devices) and they are made without flame retardants, PVC, or Microban. After visiting the Stohlquist website, the product description confirms that these life jackets are produced PVC-free, there’s no listing for Microban, and they use Gaia foam. The people at Atmostphere told me that they don’t sell anything with Microban and the only reason they could think of needing flame retardants in a floatation device is if it was specially sold for fire evacuation. Good to know that a store focused on selling gear to get you into nature is actually selling products to protect nature. I can’t thank them enough for helping me out today…it’s rare when a store and their employees can produce more knowledge than the internet and today that was the case.

I’m very interested in the Gaia foam. If this material is eco-friendly and doesn’t need chemicals added to make it flame resistant, this would be an ideal solution for infant or children items that are currently doused in flame retardant chemicals in order to make them ‘safe’ to be sold in Canada and the US. Out of curiosity, I tweeted the following 9 twitter handles from the top infant car seat manufacturers to see if they’ve thought of alternatives with the foam used in their car seats – I can’t wait to hear their thoughts on this: @Britax, @eddiebauer, @EvenfloBaby, @babytrendonline, @MaxiCosiCarSeat, @ChiccoBaby, @Safety_1st, @GracoBaby, and @Peg_Perego. And now that I have my zinc sunscreen and eco-friendlier life jackets in hand, just need to find water proof shoes for one of my boys and this summer can officially begin!

Confused About Phthalate-Free?

Confused about the latest buzz phrase parents?  Welcome to the new BPA-free world of marketing and labeling. You know how you see BPA-free stamped on every kind of plastic sippy cup or baby product these days?  Well move over BPA-free..with Canada banning 6 major phthalates in June (a few States have already banned these phthalates) you are about to see – and I’ve already noticed lots of branding and marketing for phthalate-free toys.  Why?  Now that the government has intervened, manufacturers and retailers are taking action to restrict phthalates from being added to soften vinyl in children’s toys and child car articles.  Yes this is great!  But I’ve seen a few examples of this warning being mis-interpreted by parents because there are other toxic chemicals that can be used to make vinyl or PVC soft other than phthalates.  And when a parent sees the wording ‘non-toxic’ and ‘phthalate-free’ but the toy is still made from toxic material…is this not a form of green washing at it’s best?  It saddens me that parents and consumers will be making purchases thinking they are making a very safe purchase for the environment and their children when this just isn’t the case.

I know, as I’m typing this I know I sounds like a real downer.  My country is making this great change and I’m not happy. I guess I’m jaded and a wee bitter because we’ve seen this pure marketing opportunity for business to flourish with each ‘milestone’ the government makes with banning toxic chemicals. Just remember when jewelry was marked ‘lead-free’ because it was newsworthy, but manufactures started using cadmium. I’ve read article after article that BPA can leach at room temperature (no high heats required) making it a chemical that should just not be used in any product…not just for babies.  And products marked BPA-free have been tested to contain it anyways. Now my fear for parents is seeing phthalate-free stamped on toys and children gimmicks and think they are safe.  I’m sorry, but they are not!  Most of the products being stamped with phthalate-free are soft plastic toys and they are made with PVC.  This terrible, toxic material cannot be softened without a chemical being added (plasticizers) and phthalates aren’t the only one that can do this. Do not purchase phthalate-free products that are made from soft plastic unless they also say PVC-free.  The closest products that come to mind for this type of greenwashing are bath toys for children, gag soothers, teethers, baby toys.  I went to many high end stores in my neighborhood (we aren’t talking dollar stores) and everyone was carrying ‘phthalate-free’ bath toys that are made from PVC.  We all know babies and children are going to put these in their mouth so why market them as safe?  It really bothers me and it’s why I’ve taken a break from writing over the last week. Sometimes I feel like the baby steps we are taking to protect our children become a marketing opportunity and it really bothers me. But at the same time there are so many companies, manufacturers, and retailers doing this it’s not fair to point fingers at one or two companies.  If you are confused if your baby products are non-toxic – you are welcome to ask on the Mommy Footprint Facebook fan page. We need to work together as consumers.  The true mission here is to keep asking questions so that stores will be accountable for what they sell.  I spent hours on the phone trying to talk with an appropriate person at Toys R Us to ask why they continue to sell vinyl and products made from PVC to babies.  A company like this could really make a difference because they are huge!  They have the resources to hire experts to decipher what truly safe baby products and toys are for children – but I can’t get a call back.  It’s disheartening when you want to work with a company to help change what our children are exposed to.  Really, only a company like Target, Walmart, Toys R Us, etc. can make a decision to ban certain materials they sell and have a big enough ripple effect to actually make a change. They carry the same or more power than our government with these decisions. Walmart announced they have banned polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) a widely available flame retardant that has mass outreach that is found in breastmilk to our food supply and is known to be toxic for human health. Walmart played leap-frog over government and although their business practices and certainly not always in support of local & green products, it shows the power of these huge big box stores. Imagine if they were to ban PVC. They wouldn’t have much to sell on their store shelves as far as toys and sporting equipment, but wouldn’t it be nice shopping without all the questions!?

So many articles in a short period of time on PVC, but we need to shop informed. Let’s stop giving our money to the stores that really don’t care about our kid’s health and the environment and support the ones that do. Below is a picture of the only rubber duckie I’ll currently buy. I borrowed this picture from The Soft Landing that sells these Boon Bath Toys. They are BPA-free, Phthalate-free, and PVC-free. I’m assuming they are made from natural rubber but funny enough I couldn’t get this information from the Boon site. Yes, a high end bath toy has finally hit the market and yes, we are not used to paying $6 for one rubber duck, but we’ve learned that quality is key – not cost. Kids don’t need 10 bath toys – 1 safer option will do and this model doesn’t have a hole in the bottom so there isn’t a mold concern either.