LEGO are probably everyone’s favorite toy at some point in their lives (if not forever, I mean c’mon they are fantastic!) But all that plastic can’t be great for the environment long term, right? Well the toy giant is officially phasing out petroleum-based plastic bricks in search of an environmentally friendly alternative.
According to reports, the company is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to research, development and implementation of new, sustainable, raw materials to manufacture sustainable LEGO elements and packaging. This is such WONDERFUL news!
LEGO says they hope to fully transition their plastic building blocks from the current plastic configuration to green materials by 2030! That really isn’t that far considering it is already 2016. However, LEGO does produce roughly 60 billion blocks LEGO produces each year.
The company has already brgun to offset their current energy usage in their factories so that most of LEGO’s carbon footprint comes from the extraction and refinement of crude oil used in its plastic bricks. However, considering how much plastic bits are created and thrown away every year, they have realized it is time to do more – they “must start at a more fundamental level—the building blocks.”
LEGO will begin their new endeavor by pending $150 million on their new Sustainable Materials Center where they will collaborate and develop partnerships with stakeholders and scientists. The new sustainability center is expected to be built by 2016 and employ approximately 100 materials experts.
But don’t worry! The quality of your building blocks will not go down, assures the Danish company. The LEGO group has reassured customers that they are doing serious long-term research and development of new materials so as not to compromise the quality or safety standard expected by parents.
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