Lego, a cool and family-friendly brand that’s currently worth a whopping $7.4 billion, has basically created a huge plastic empire. Back in 1946, the founder, Ole Kirk Christiansen, got his hands on Denmark’s very first plastic-injection molding machine. Since then, Lego pieces have been made from good old oil, which happens to be a fossil fuel.
The small parts that the company churns out—many billions every year—are mostly made from ABS, a material that doesn’t break down easily or get recycled. If one of those cute little figures ends up in the environment, it will eventually break down into harmful microplastics.
Plastic is becoming more and more of a no-no, and with everyone wanting to ditch fossil fuels and save our planet’s precious habitats, there’s a real need to find other options or cut down on plastic waste.
On September 18th, the CEO of Lego Group, Niels Christiansen, said that he was teaming up with Danish business leaders to urge companies and policymakers worldwide to work together for a fair and eco-friendly shift towards a net-zero future.
Lego just announced that their big plan to use recycled plastic bottles instead of ABS for their toy bricks didn’t quite work out as expected. However, the company is really interested in working on a greener version of ABS for its sturdier components. They might consider using biobased plastic in them. There are about 200 Lego pieces right now that are made from biobased plastic, which comes from sugarcane in Brazil.
They can be considered “quite credible” in their efforts to decarbonise because the company has invested so much in this endeavor. For instance, in 2015 Lego put down $155 million to establish a Sustainable Materials Center. But this is still a work in progress.
Reference- Lego website, Globe PRNewswire, National Geographic, BBC, Wired