Gifts / Sports & Toys

A team of more than 150 engineers spent three years developing sustainable solutions for Lego products and tested 250 different PET materials and hundreds of other plastic formulations. The result is a new prototype that uses PET plastic from discarded bottles, which is the first solution to meet the company's strict quality and safety requirements.

Material testing covers a series of prototypes, from building blocks that cannot be fully joined to prototypes that cannot be separated. The LEGO Group’s vice president of environmental responsibility Tim Brooks called it “the biggest in the company’s sustainability journey. challenge".'

"We are very excited about this breakthrough," Brooks said in a press release. "The biggest challenge in our sustainability journey is to rethink and innovate new materials that are as durable, strong and high-quality as our existing building blocks, and to match the Lego elements made in the past 60 years.

"With this template, we will be able to show the progress we are making."

However, Lego admits that it will take some time for bricks made from recycled materials to appear on shelves and in Lego products in stores. Further testing and development of the PET formulation phase is expected to take at least one year before the company can evaluate whether to switch to trial production.

"Trial and failure are an important part of learning and innovation. Just as children build, dismantle and rebuild with Lego bricks at home, we do the same in the laboratory," Brooks said.

In this week’s LEGO Fan Media Roundtable interview, Brooks revealed that despite the launch of the first recyclable LEGO bricks, Brooks admitted that the company still faces its “ambitious goal” of achieving 100% sustainable development. With the "huge challenge" to 2030.

In an interview with Brick Fanatics, he said: “For safety, quality, color, durability, gloss-what we see on the packaging is the same, so that the paper bag is packed in a firm way without being punctured and all other things. .They are all huge challenges.

"I can't say whether we will succeed. I can say with certainty that this is our goal and we are doing our best to improve it. We have invested a lot of resources behind it, including finance and personnel."

Efforts and resources include investing $400 million in three years to find new and sustainable materials to replace traditional ABS. The first Lego brick made from recycled plastic bottles released this week is the first step in this journey.

The prototype is made of recycled PET from US suppliers who use processes approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) to ensure quality. On average, one liter plastic PET bottle can provide enough raw materials for ten 2 x 4 Lego bricks.

In 2018, Lego began using bio-PE (bio-PE) to produce components, which is made from sustainably sourced sugar cane. Many Lego sets contain elements made of biological PE, which are ideal for making smaller, softer parts such as trees, branches, leaves and minifigure accessories.

Bio-PE is currently not suitable for making harder and stronger elements, such as Lego bricks.

"We are committed to building a sustainable future for generations of children," Brooks continued. "We want our products to have a positive impact on the planet, not only through the games inspired by them, but also the materials we use. Our journey still has a long way to go, but we are satisfied with the progress we have made. "