Dolls and Their Environmental Impact

I will probably get spanked by environmentalists or go to hell or something for saying this, but honestly, as long as human safety is ok, I could not care less.

 

Erm, I don't really care as long as the crime isn't atrocious, like child labor or improper disposal of toxic substances. I am not that enthusiastic over environmental-friendliness, but I am not completely indifferent either.

 

I personally don't care about the environment when it comes to BJDs. I'll go recycle and do compost, but as long as humans are safe, that's all good to me.

 

Short summary of my life:
I take care of 4 ill and elderly relatives, i had a friend with cancer living in my house for over a year. Ive been on mission, i work far over 40 hours a week (a lot during night shifts) and have done weeks of 60 in the past. My husband i just back from volunteer work in Africa. I eat slave free chocolate, eco friendly meat, fruit/vegetables. If possible i try to get my fruit and vegetables directly from local farmers. i separate my garbage into paper, glass, plastics and garden and fruits and dispose of them properly. In my work i try to use environmentaly save products and dispose off them properly. I seldom use airplanes.

I need my dolls to keep me sane and alive. I need one area in my life that is light, happy and problem free. (Besides the problems i had with my dolls from CH, CCC and Angeldolls.uk).

As long as i dont hear about any atrocities to workers, child labour or purposefull pollution by any companies I will get them.

Plus the ev-resin really is different. Far more translucent.

 

1. Is resin and the casting process of dolls environmentally friendly?

I don't know... HOW harmful the process is, or how harmful resin is. I know I have sanded my dolls in a non-well ventilated area with a dust mask on, and my parrots cage, and hermit crab cage uncovered. I never felt sick, and both of those animals are very much so still alive. [granted, this only happened once and it was because of a very special situation which i really would rather not get into. Long story short, you cannot control what people will and will not allow you to do, especially when you're living in their house.]

2. Would it affect where you bought your dolls if you found out which companies were/were not environmentally friendly?

mmm, it depends. Resin is toxic. We know this. Harmful if swallowed, etc etc. If I found out a certain company diliberately wasted energy and didnt dispose of their waste properly, it may affect me. I do care about our Earth. We only have one. The people who are stating "as long as humans are safe" ... well, I once watched a lunar eclipse at night when it was crystal clear, and totally saw the hole in the ozone layer. It was appalling. We're not safe if it continues like that. Or, I should say... our children's children's children are not safe. Which is why if I found out that a company really didn't care, [and was not doing these things because of ignorance,] I may actually not buy from that company.

3. Would it affect how you viewed your dolls if you found out they were/were not environmentally friendly?

No. I already bought the doll. It's already in my possession. Selling my dolls would not prove anything to the company nor would it send any sort of message to them. Also, I'm attached to my dolls. I could never give them up. I would be sad for a little while that my doll may have caused the Earth some harmful damage, and maybe even feel slightly guilty and at fault, but I would move past it pretty quickly ^^;

4. Would it affect how you viewed other people if you found out that their dolls were/were not environmentally friendly?

I agree with the OP -- Everyone has a choice. Some people don't care, and that's totally fine. =]


EDIT: Also to add, eco-friendly resin yellows VERY fast.

This is actually a really great debate. I'm looking forward to seeing the responses. *subscribes*​

 

I've taken these pics from this thread, pics made by Itou, both dolls B&G.
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/s...ion!&p=7693299&highlight=ev-resin#post7693299

EV-resin


Normal resin

 

Sorry but human safety and environment safety are one & the same. When you poison
the water & soil it affects what you drink & eat and the air you breathe.
Such thinking is why we have so many problems in the world, people believe if it doesn't
affect us immediately that it doesn't really matter. How sad to live on our beautiful planet
with everything it offers us and say I DON'T CARE ABOUT IT. People say that, but they will
care when all our water is poisoned and we need masks just to breathe.

A clean healthy environment = healthy inhabitants. *shakes head*

edit: so, after posting this I read your other post, saying how you recycle etc. and that's great,
so then I have to question WHY on earth you would say "I could not care less".
Caring doesn't mean you have to abstain from buying dolls, right? But your first comment is
the typical attitude of the world, and seeing that you try to do good I cannot understand saying
that to begin with. Nobody is completely impact free, all we can try to do is even it out as much
as possible.

 

1. May i ask you to read my second post.
2. This is an opinion thread, DOA does not allowing being rude to someone else for their opinions.

 

Nothing I said was rude. It's a debate thread, which means opinions can be
questioned, unfortunately. And my comment was aimed at everyone who
said "I don't care". Sorry you were offended, perhaps you should have posted
your second comment first showing that you actually DO care?
I would have said: I do a lot in terms of caring about the environment but I'm
not going to give up loving/buying my dolls because they are not environmentally
friendly.

 

Well, you did aim it directly at me, while some others basically said the exact same thing.

I do care about the environment, i just feel there needs to be an end to how far im willing to go.

 

Sorry about that. I didn't mean to jump on you. And yes I agree with you, I try to do as
much as I can but obviously I'm not giving up things like computer use. Personally I'd love
to see more companies try to be as environmentally safe/friendly as they can, esp. when it
comes to disposal, which is something we really have no idea about, what they do exactly.
I live in a neighborhood where people just don't care...I go around picking up their plastic
bags that they literally throw out their windows, plastic bags that have caught birds in trees.
So unfortunately I'm very sensitive about this topic, which isn't one I expect to see when I
come here.

 

I am always a bit confused what environmentally-friendly means in the case of resin... Does it mean there is less CO2-release during the production? That it is made out of recycled materials? That it is made of renewables? That it is easier decomposed? That it is less toxic to the people who will own the doll? Some things can, though must not necessarily, be less environmentally-friendly as we think or are made to think, since eco-friendly is actually a big lifestyle and advertising factor today. I would love to learn what exactly is different about the eco-friendly resin (is it even still polyurethane?), but seems most companies regard the formula as their secret...

...really, until I know what exactly is meant by "environmentally-friendly resin", I won't even believe that.

EDIT: by the way, before someone tells me polyurethane in itself is generally bad, toxic, made from mineral oil etc - there is much more polyurethane in newer cars and houses than there is in dolls. And it might even help reduce your car's CO2-release, by making it lighter...

 

There is no standard to when to call the resin ev-friendly or not. Usually they mean no lead and a different plasticizer. Some just mean they dont toss the wasteproducts in the river.

Although they could also mean that the doll automatically biodegrades in 5 years.

 

I really hope it is NOT the latter!

 

^ this is kind of what i was trying to say.

This made me lol. xD

And yes. For me... I wouldn't be concearned about which resin they use and stuff. My car has more toxic things about it than these dolls do. My main concern would be if the companies dispose of things properly. As you said, for some companies being environmentally friendly simply means not tossing things into our waters. [And just as a 4-1-1 tidbit, a lot of companies still do =\] If I found a company was wasting energy, water, or tossing their toxins outside or into our rivers, lakes, or oceans... I would definitely think twice about buying from them.

The type of resin, however, doesn't really impact me much. I'm not throwing my doll out any time soon. And kind of on the same line as what dollblue said...

....I can't imagine that environmental friendly resin is really all that different from regular resin. It surely cannot be THAT drastic of a difference in how much the resin affects the enviornment.

BUT I CAN ALSO BE WRONG, And if I am, someone please correct me!!!! I just can't seem to wrap my hands around how much more "enviornmentally friendly" the resin is.

 

As far as I see it eco-friendly resin is still a plastic, as such unfriendly to the environment and you'll still have to dispose of it safely.