The Lego Group announced that it would discontinue its efforts to make its trademark bricks from recycled plastic bottles, CBS News reported. The company said it still hopes to reduce its carbon emissions by producing bricks from sustainable materials by 2032.
Lego announced in 2021 that blocks made from recycled prototype polyethylene terephthalate (PET) material had passed the company’s safety, quality, and play standards. However, according to Lego’s recent statement, the company found that those materials did not decrease carbon emissions during a two-year test.
Engineers and scientists analyzed over 250 versions of PET materials and numerous other plastic formulations before creating the prototype. The prototype was crafted from plastic sourced from U.S. suppliers that the European Food Safety Authority and the FDA endorsed. Lego estimated that a one-liter plastic PET bottle could provide sufficient raw material for ten 2-by-4 bricks.
Lego currently manufactures its bricks out of oil-based plastic. The company has allocated more than $1.2 billion toward sustainability initiatives in an effort to achieve a 37% reduction in carbon emissions by 2032.
Lego stated that it is experimenting and refining bricks from other recycled plastics, as well as plastics derived from e-methanol. The company also expressed its intention to maintain the use of bio-polypropylene for Lego components like trees, leaves, and other accessories.
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