I read an article yesterday that stated that LEGO had failed in an attempt to make their product more environmentally friendly. LEGOs have always made their “bricks” out of plastic — it’s not a recent thing, that they turned to plastic after being made of wood or metal, or some other substance. They started out being made of plastic and they still are today.
LEGOs are made from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, better known as ABS. The problem with that is that ABS doesn’t biodegrade and it’s not easily recycled. So, as you might imagine, concern about climate change and pollution have made this material increasingly taboo. Responding to this concern, the LEGO Company is in a rush to find alternatives.
Two years ago, Lego announced it had made impressive progress in developing a suitable robust material made from recycled plastic bottles. This material is known as recycled polyethylene terephthalate or rPET. The LEGO company CEO called for companies and policymakers to stand together globally for a just and green transition to a net-zero future.
However, the article explained that LEGO’s project to transition away from ABS to rPET had failed. The company determined that the new equipment and process needed to be used for rPET manufacturing, would have a heavier carbon footprint than if they stuck with ABS.
The article went on to explain that LEGOs don’t provide as much of a threat to the environment as some products because LEGOs are generally not thrown out — they are kept for many years and often passed along to the owners children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
I guess there may be some truth to that — we still have legos that out kids had…. hopefully our grandkids will take them and pass them along.
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