Lego Has Built Its First Recycled Brick!
Lego has announced the creation of their first recycled brick, as they make steps towards building all of their core Lego products from sustainable materials by 2030. The majority of the billions of lego bricks sold each year would usually be made from a plastic called acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), which can not be recycled through your general bin collection service. This means that they would end up sitting in landfills for thousands of years as they’re not biodegradable!
What Are The New Bricks Made From?
The innovative prototype is created from PET plastic from bottles thrown away, with the addition of additives to give the toy the same strength and durability we see in the traditional lego brick. This new design has taken over 3 years to be completed, with over 250 different variations experimented with to reach this result. It is estimated that from every 1-litre plastic bottle used in the process, they are provided with enough material for 10 4×2 lego bricks. This is a huge success for Lego in not only replacing their original ABS bricks, but also making use of recycled plastic bottles in the fight against plastic waste.
Lego’s Sustainable Missions
Environmentally Friendly Packaging
Lego has also announced that it is their mission for all of their products’ packaging to be made from renewable or recycled materials by 2050. This will make it easy for consumers to further recycle their waste, and save raw materials from being used in production.
Reducing Their C02 Impact
Another step towards creating a greener business is focusing on their C02 impact. Lego has promised to increase carbon efficiency and invest in onsite and offsite renewables. A few ways they have done this is by fitting LED light bulbs in the workplace, installing roof-based renewable energy systems, installing a new cooling system at factories, and running various environmental campaigns.
Lego Replay
A new innovative scheme run by Lego is called ‘Lego Replay’, inspiring consumers to pass along bricks that they’re not using. This is key to reducing the rate at which this plastic toy is produced, as the brick itself is designed to last for generations. This program encourages people to give bricks to others and reduce the numbers being thrown away.
Why Is This Important?
As an organisation of such size, it is essential to be focused on how your products are impacting the planet. Particularly with plastic waste, we are seeing the major effects that this material is having on our environments. Through ocean plastic, landfills rising and toxins being emitted, habitats are suffering and the rate of global warming is speeding up. If you are a business that is looking to reduce your C02 footprint, Plastic Expert can help by providing you with a recycling service for both your plastic and cardboard waste. Get in touch with our team today to find out more.
