Eco Spade - Bigjigs Toys

Kids who love to dig are going to love our brightly coloured Eco Spade. This eco-friendly toy spade is made from wheat fibre which is similar to plastic but much kinder to the planet. You'll notice the lovely light wheat flecks scattered through! It's really easy to keep clean, too.

Dig sandcastles at the beach and plant seeds in the garden. Afterwards it's super easy to clean. This sustainable kid's spade has a handle that is easy for little fingers to grip and hold. It's compact enough to be packed anywhere and pairs nicely with a matching Bigjigs Silicone Toy Bucket. This eco-friendly toy spade is available in a range of colours.

• Beach spade made from eco-friendly wheat fibre.
• Encourages hand/eye coordination.
• Bucket and flyer sold separately.

A new eco-friendly range of silicone toys including buckets, spades and foldable flyers. Available in multiple stylish colours. Buckets and flyers are made from non-toxic food-grade silicone. The spade and bucket handle are made from wheat fibre. This means they're more eco-friendly than alternative products.

Fragile plastic buckets really are a thing of the past! These awesome flyers and buckets can roll, flex and bounce back into shape without crease marks.

The Silicone story (and why it's better for the environment)

Silica, or silicon dioxide, is the raw material in silicone. Beach sand is pure silica. The same goes for quartz.

To make these toys, silica is converted into pure silicon by heating it to extremely high temperatures. Oxygen, carbon and hydrogen are then added. These elements bond together as polymers to form a final resin.

Silicone is as strong as metal and more flexible than plastic. However, unlike plastic derived from petrochemicals, its manufacture doesn’t hurt the environment or generate toxic waste.

Why use Wheat Fibre?

The wheat fibre in our new spades comes from the organic waste of cultivated wheat. It's high in cellulose. This is extracted via natural methods to create an eco-friendly bioplastic that degrades in landfill.

While it's often hard to tell the difference between wheat fibre ABS plastic and normal plastic, you'll notice the wheat fibre in our spades has subtle beige, white and tan flecks.

About the Company

Bigjigs Toys was founded in the UK more than 30 years ago. It offers more than one thousand unique products including its world-famous wooden railway sets and accessories. Whether you're looking for gift lines, educational products or traditional wooden toys Bigjigs has it all.

The Bigjigs story began in Peter Ireland's garden shed in Kent, England in 1985. Peter hand crafted wooden jigsaws which he and wife Liz sold at craft fairs all over the UK. Today it operates from a large warehouse in Folkestone, Kent and distributes toys to 93 countries worldwide.

Liz and Peter Ireland are both teachers by profession. As a result, child development and education lie at the heart of every Bigjigs toy. This means every Bigjigs product is designed to encourage key skills and is graded according to age appropriate guidelines. Its packaging also includes labels that explain the skills children can learn and develop while playing with a Bigjigs toy.

Bigjigs work closely with a number of production facilities in the Far East. These are regularly visited by Liz Ireland, its Managing Director. She takes great care to ensure that the facilities are operating ethically while delivering world-class quality at an affordable price. Every toy is tested and certified to EN71 and ASTM standards; while an increasing number of toys are also tested to Australia's AS/NZS 8124 Series of Standards.

When choosing timber for its toys Bigjigs carefully assesses its quality, durability and sustainability. For example, many of its toys are made from plantation-grown rubberwood that would otherwise go to waste. This philosophy extends to its packaging. Currently more than 80% of the Bigjigs range is presented in packaging made from 90% recycled materials that's printed using soy ink. It even runs its entire head office and European distribution warehouse on solar energy.