Posted in: Games, Toys | Tagged: lego

LEGO is Switching to Environmentally Friendly Plastics

Published Sat, 03 Mar 2018 10:45:19 -0600

Last updated Sat, 03 Mar 2018 10:54:55 -0600

The years of stepping on regular plastic LEGO bricks will slowly start to come to an end around the world, as LEGO announced this week that they'll be switching up production materials on the plastic they use to make their products. The Danish-based company made a pledge that it would switch to materials that would be more sustainable for both their toys and their packaging by 2030, and the first major step toward this is that the toys side of things will now be made with a polyethylene produced with ethanol made from sugarcane, as opposed to the traditional toxic process that goes into most plastics.

LEGO is Switching to Environmentally Friendly Plastics — credit//LEGO

While this sounds like a cool step forward, it should be noted that the total amount of bricks being made with this substance right now only comprises about 2% of the LEGO Group's production. In other words, it's a good step forward, but it's also going to be a slow step forward as it will take time for the company to fully wean itself off what is essentially an industry standard when it comes to using plastics with toys. If the move is successful and sustainable financially, its something we could start seeing from companies that produce action figures. The Lego Group's vice president Tim Brooks said in a statement on their site: "This is a great first step in our ambitious commitment of making all LEGO bricks using sustainable materials."

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