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The LEGO Group has unveiled a new LEGO brick model made from recycled plastic. The prototype uses PET plastic from discarded bottles and is the first brick made from recycled material to meet the company’s quality and safety standards.
The new building brick is an important milestone for the toy as the company continues its journey to produce products from sustainable materials. Lego assembled a team of over 150 people to focus solely on this.
Over the past three years, materials scientists and engineers have tested more than 250 PET materials and hundreds of other plastic formulations. The result is a prototype that meets a number of quality, safety and playability requirements – including clutch power.
“We are very excited about this discovery. The biggest challenge in our sustainability journey is to rethink and innovate new materials like the old bricks that are durable, strong and high quality and compatible with LEGO components that have been made over the past 60 years,” said Tim Brooks, vice president of environmental protection at the LEGO Group. We can show the progress we are making.
However, it will take some time before bricks made from recycled material appear in Lego product boxes. The team will continue to test and develop the PET formulation and then evaluate whether it will move to the pilot production stage. This next phase of testing is expected to take at least a year.
Turning a bottle into a Lego brick
The prototype is made from recycled PET from suppliers in the US to ensure the quality of processes approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). On average, one liter plastic PET bottle provides enough raw material for ten 2 x 4 Lego bricks.
The patent-pending formulation of the material increases the strength of PET to make it strong enough for Lego bricks. The innovative process uses proven compounding technology to combine recycled PET with reinforcing additives.
Progress on sustainability aspirations
The recycled prototype brick is the latest development from the LEGO Group to make its products more sustainable. In the year By 2020, the company has announced that it will begin removing single-use plastic from its boxes. In the year In 2018, it started producing ingredients made from bio-polyethylene (bio-PE), a sustainable sugar cane.
Many Lego sets contain materials made from Bio-PE which is ideal for making small and soft pieces such as trees, branches, leaves and accessories for miniature figures. Bio-PE is currently not suitable for making hard and solid materials such as the famous Lego bricks.
Brooks said: “We are committed to doing our part in building sustainable futures for children. We want our products to have a positive impact on the planet, not only through the play they inspire, but also through the materials we use. We still have a long way to go on our journey, but we are pleased with the progress we are making.
The LEGO Group’s focus on sustainable materials innovation is one of the company’s various initiatives to make a positive impact. The company says it will invest up to $400 million over the three years to 2022 to accelerate its sustainability ambitions.
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