They’re also shooting for 100% renewable plastic sources by 2030! All of the soft plant/leaf elements in sets right now and going forward are made out of bioplastic made from sugarcane, and they’re working on getting the regular hard plastic bricks out of that, too.
They’ve done it, actually! The full bricks are in the prototype stage now, and are expected to be 100% biodegradable without the need for a commercial compost facility. It’s very cool. Right now they’re testing the durability and playability of the bricks and seeing what needs to be revised/reworked on their final model.
So its that easy huh
Of course it is
Actually, this isn’t “easy” and is huge news. You see, Lego is absolutely meticulous about their quality control. Their standards for manufacturing are stupidly high, as are their safety requirements. You know that distinctive “click” when you pop two Lego bricks apart? They engineered that. That sound is so distinctive that it can be used to tell genuine Lego bricks from counterfeits and it’s a sound that would be based on shape and material.
Furthermore, one of the hard requirements for a Lego brick is that it must be compatible with any other Lego brick. If I buy a set today and pull a set from the 1980s? Those bricks would fit together perfectly. This requires a huge amount of precision engineering and controls on manufacturing quality. (I can’t remember the source, but I’ve at least heard that once the brick molds wear to a certain point, they’re pulled from the line and either melted down or turned into construction material for Lego HQ. Point being, no one is getting their hands on a worn Lego mold)
Recycled and non-petroleum plastics are different from other plastic. The chemistry is different. The timing and process to use them is different. This has been a reason why more companies haven’t moved to them, because there’s a drop in quality for material (so they claim).
What Lego just did is completely obliterate that argument. The corporation with some of the strictest quality control requirements for plastic just kicked the basic foundation of the “bad quality” argument out from under it, because if they feel confident enough to guarantee the same experience as using a brick from over 40 years ago, if they are confident enough that they can meet their own metrics at a huge industrial scale….
Nobody else has any excuse.
GLORIOUS NERDERY Lego edition
Their journey is as interesting as their outcome. LEGO spent years and years testing different materials because they needed them to be more sustainable without losing quality. They discarded a lot of options because they were too flimsy, or couldn’t keep the color consistent, etc. They were very open about their process and posted publicly to let people know what they had tried and what had FAILED. They let everyone know this wasn’t a simple solution, and definitely not a cheap one, but they were willing to spend company money and staff resources on it because it was the right thing to do.
It’s not a perfect effort, of course. The “recyclable” paper bags they recently started using definitely use less plastic than before, but they aren’t compatible with curbside recycling in the US because the paper is lined with plastic. But the point is, it is BETTER than before, and they are TRYING.
If you want to learn more about all the things they’re working on, check out their Environment website! They do a great job explaining why switching from plastic to more sustainable materials is not a simple swap.
Sustainability, environmental responsibility, plants from plants, BIO-PE,
