Bournemouth Council’s Escor Toys, which manufactures handcrafted wooden toys for pre-school and under 8 children, has been awarded the new Best Buy butterfly label recently launched by Ethical Consumer magazine.  This move underlines Escor Toys’ credentials as a producer of genuinely ethical products. The Best Buy label has been introduced to combat the growing difficulties consumers face in identifying genuine ethical products in the increasingly crowded ethical market. Researchers rate both the product and the company behind the product against more than twenty environmental and human rights criteria before awarding the Best Buy butterfly label.

Escor Toys meet ethical standards on several counts.  Environmentally, the products are manufactured from managed forest beech wood, with all paints and varnishes Toy Safety tested and certificated before use.  The workshop also scores high on human rights as it employs people with disabilities, providing them with real jobs and enabling them to be independent.

Councillor Barry Goldbart, Cabinet member for Adult Services said: “Here in Community Care Services, we aim to enable disabled people to become as independent as possible.  But our Escor Toys enterprise looks at the bigger picture.  We consider the business ethics from start to finish.  Our raw materials, the way we work and the people we employ provide a unique combination.  By adopting the Ethical Consumer Best Buy Label we can give ethical shoppers the confidence they are making an excellent choice.”