LEGO, the Danish toymaker, is well-known for its colourful, plastic bricks, but the company has recently grown more environmentally conscious. In 2018, the firm launched its first-ever sustainable collection manufactured from sugarcane, and now the company has taken another step forward in its effort to decrease plastic trash. The company recently created a prototype brick constructed from recycled plastic bottles, making it the first of its kind.
Around the last three years, the prototype has been developed by a team of over 150 individuals. In order to discover a material which fulfils LEGO’s quality and safety criteria, they tested over 250 PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and many other plastic formulas. Finally, PET plastic was used in the United States from discarded bottles. A one-litre PET plastic bottle supplies a sufficient amount of raw material for 10 2 x 4 LEGO bricks on average. In order to achieve it, recycled plastic is compounded by the use of custom-made additives.
Tim Brooks, Vice President of Environmental Responsibility of the LEGO Group, states that we are really thrilled about this development. ” “Thinking and inventing new materials that are as robust, resilient and high quality as our existing bricks – and suit LEGO parts throughout the last 60 years – provide the largest obstacle in our sustainability travel.” He said, “We can illustrate the advances we are making with this prototype.”
It’s still some time to see LEGO’s recycled plastic bricks on the retail shelves in spite of the wonderful announcement. A further testing needs to be carried out, which might take approximately a year, before the prototype is certified for production. “We want to let the kids know that we’re working on it and take them on the trip, despite the fact that they will spend a while playing on blocks made out of recycled plastic,” adds Brooks. “Learning and creativity is a key element of experimentation and failure. We are doing the same in our laboratory when children build, repair and reconstruct LEGO bricks at home.” To advance its environmental ambitions, the Lego Group is investing up to $400 million through 2022. The firm has already begun to phase out single-use plastics from its packaging and is developing components made of bio-polyethylene (bio-PE).
Meanwhile, the company has built a new flagship Lego Store on Fifth Avenue, which offers an engaging shopping experience complete with immersive and interactive activities. A taxicab that visitors can sit in, an interactive Lady Liberty, the first-ever Personalization Studio, and the AI-Immersive Brick Lab are among the highlights. Mattel has recently released a new Barbie Loves the Ocean collection, its first fashion doll line created from recycled ocean-bound plastic.
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