The world’s largest toy company revealed a prototype block from recycled bottles, they said that it seemed to be one of the finest among hundreds of other variations of sustainable plastic materials. But now in 2023, Lego has decided to drop the plan of making its popular bricks from recycled drinking bottles, sharing the reasons behind their decision. The toy company stated back in 2021 that it was aiming to make bricks that would not have crude oil.
However, on Monday the company stated that they found out the huge expense behind the process and the new process will also cause increased pollution. While testing the makers also found that the recycled drinking bottles were not as safe as ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) and they didn’t contain ‘clutch powder’ which helps the bricks to stick to each other and they can be easily pulled apart. However, the company said they will remain ‘fully committed’ to their previous statement of producing bricks from sustainable elements. Like any other company, Lego is also trying its hands at alternative ways that do not include plastic as customers are making sustainability their priority around the globe.
A spokesperson of Lego stated, ‘We remain fully committed to making Lego bricks from sustainable materials by 2032. We are investing more than $1.4 billion (€1.3 billion) in sustainability initiatives in the four years to 2025 as part of our efforts to transition to more sustainable materials and reduce our carbon emissions by 37% by 2032.’
Niels Christiansen, chief executive of Lego shared with one well-known newspaper that there is no ‘magic material’ for solving the issue regarding sustainability. He continued adding, ‘We tested hundreds and hundreds of materials. It’s just not been possible to find a material like that.’
Moreover, Toy Giant Lego’s in-charge of sustainability Tim Brooks stated that PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic requires more elements to provide safety and longevity, also it needs a massive amount of energy to process it. Further added, ‘It’s like trying to make a bike out of wood rather than steel,’ Continued adding,’ After all that, the carbon footprint would have been higher. It was disappointing.’
As a result, the toy company has ‘decided not to progress’ with the process they had been planning on. They continued adding, ‘We tested hundreds and hundreds of materials. It’s just not been possible to find a material like that,’
The toy-maker company has been focusing on other ways to boost their sustainable materials, intending to find an oil-based plastic bricks alternative, also they are now leaning toward paper-based packaging and focusing on how to stop using plastic bags entirely by the end of 2025.
First reported by the FT (Financial Times), the Danish toymaker company produces billions of Lego pieces every year, and in 2021 they started to research a potential and promising alternative, as their formula required 2kg of petroleum to make 1kg of plastic.
Well, the company has shared earlier that around 150 people were working on sustainability however they needed to stop the process. Additionally, Lego aims to produce every piece of ABS more sustainably by including more recycled and bio-based materials. The chief executive also said that the company will maximize the spending on sustainability within 2025 but also promises the consumers that this will not affect them.
