With an unwavering commitment to using sustainable materials in LEGOs, the company's CEO, Niels B. Christiansen, announced he is paying higher prices for recycled plastic used in the beloved childhood toys without passing the costs onto customers.
Bloomberg reported that the renewable resin LEGO uses to make bricks is in short supply, driving up prices. While the toymaker has urged manufacturers to ramp up production capacity of the material, the company is paying 30-70% extra for it in the meantime.
This comes after LEGO scrapped its plans last year to make the characteristic colorful bricks from recycled plastic bottles, as Euronews Green explained. After over two years of testing, the company found the material wouldn't reduce carbon pollution — in fact, it would produce even more.
"We had to drop the idea that we could find one thing in the market, one new sustainable material, that solved all the problems," Christiansen told Bloomberg. "What we have learned so far is that this is much, much harder than we expected."
However, he's not giving up hope of making LEGOs more planet-friendly. He told the news outlet that raw plastic with certified renewable and recycled compounds has proven viable in making LEGO despite the manufacturing setbacks.
Thankfully, the market for bioplastics — which includes the unprocessed resin LEGO uses to make bricks and figurines — is estimated to double by 2025.
"We're going to become an active buyer in these certified products and help accelerate the industry toward that," the LEGO CEO told Bloomberg.
In 2021, LEGO invested $1.4 billion in sustainability initiatives, which includes shifting to more eco-friendly materials. By 2032, the company intends to reduce carbon pollution by 37%, per Euronews Green. According to Bloomberg, it also aims to reach net-zero pollution by 2050.
The outlet said the company is also exploring plastics made from alternative components such as e-methanol, or green methanol, composed of waste carbon dioxide and hydrogen.
For now, LEGO will continue to make its products using bio-polypropylene, which is manufactured from corn, vegetable oils, and sugarcane.
Making LEGO from sustainable materials is better for human health since plastic has been linked to a host of health problems, including cancer, hormone dysfunction, and respiratory issues, according to Earth Day.
Plus, the world produces nearly 500 million tons of plastic annually, much of which ends up in landfills, oceans, and other natural spaces. The less plastic we make and the more we recycle, the healthier our planet.
"We believe that in the long-term, this will encourage increased production of more sustainable raw materials, such as recycled oils, and help support our transition to sustainable materials," LEGO told Euronews.
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