LEGO announced two years ago that it had developed a new building brick made from recycled PET. The intention was to apply this on a large scale in the production of new bricks. LEGO also applied biobased plastics for some parts, such as the bendable pieces of plastic meant to represent trees.
At the Biorizon Annual Event in December 2021, VP Material Nelleke van der Puil said that all LEGO bricks would be made of sustainable materials by 2030. Circularity would be the standard, and biobased raw materials would become “super important” to achieve sustainable growth.
This is now all being reversed. For the brightly coloured rectangular building blocks, the company continues to use ABS, even though it has a large carbon footprint. Christiansen said that the footprint of recycled PET would be even bigger because it would require new machinery. Reuse of the bricks would be a better solution. LEGO has already set up a collection programme in the US and Canada, but not yet in Europe and the UK.
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