Growing plastic instead of food – LEGO made of plants?

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Lego is the word which is associated with creativity, planning, aspiration and joy.

I believe LEGO is the best toy ever. It gives you the possibility to create your own worlds and make up stories around it. It’s undoubtedly amazing not only for kids. However, it is made of plastic, which is not an eco-friendly material.  In fact, production of  19 000 000 000 pieces using 5000 000 kg of ABS plastic each year is emitting about million tons of carbon dioxide yearly. But the Lego Group announced that they will be 100% powered by renewable energy by 2020 (they already achieved the goal in 2017, actually) and free from oil-based plastic by 2030. 

“We strive to reduce the CO2 emissions from making LEGO bricks. We do this by increasing carbon efficiency and investing in onsite and offsite renewables.

We are proud to be balanced with 100% renewable energy due to the investments in offshore wind in Germany and the UK by our parent company KIRKBI A/S. Energy output from investments in renewables currently exceeds the energy used at our factories, offices and stores.”

~ Lego Group

Lego is planning to invest $400 000 000 to accelerate their sustainability efforts. In 2018 the company introduced first sustainable set 40320 called “Plants from plants”. The material they used was plastic made from ethanol that comes from sugarcane. It is plastic which has the same properties but the process reduces carbon footprint of the plastic. Some people may say that growing plastic instead of food is not that good idea. Especially in Brazil, where large sugarcane plantations display poor farmers which results in deforestation (farmers has to move somewhere).

According to National Geographic, 91% of plastic is not recycled every year.

Lego is made of plastic but of one that is for sure reusable. It is seen as a valuable thing to have. It is common to see Lego sets produced in 80’s or even 70’s being still in use – I personally have old Lego sets my father used to play with. The one thing which is not reusable in lego sets are those little plastic bags. Lego Group is planning to replace it with the ones that would be made of paper. It is part of the 100% eco Lego by 2030 plan.

To be honest I still do sometime buy Lego. It is my way to chill out. If you are also a Lego enthusiast or you have some Lego bricks, let me know!

Sources:

  1. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/15/business/lego-plastic-packaging/index.html
  2. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/07/plastic-produced-recycling-waste-ocean-trash-debris-environment/
  3. https://www.lego.com/pl-pl/aboutus/sustainability/environment/
  4. https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-lego-factory-where-they-make-19-billion-pieces-each-year-billund-2018-4?IR=T
  5. https://youtube.com/watch?v=qhbliUq0_r4
  6. https://youtube.com/watch?v=PeQEpda1DGU

 

3 thoughts on “Growing plastic instead of food – LEGO made of plants?

  1. Kolczyńska Helena says:

    I think that is a great alternative. Lego has always been a company with high CSR and they are trying to introduce interesting solutions for environmental problems.

  2. Bogatyriov Oleg says:

    This is what I call “innovation”, as far as people are making synthetic meat, why don’t we grow smth else?)

  3. Mroczyński Wojciech says:

    Wow, I didn’t know that LEGO was such a environmentally friendly company. The fact that LEGOs have a such great lifespan also helps being eco-friendly. Also, the idea of producing plastic without the use of fossil fuels sounds amazing. I am just wondering if the bendiness of the new plastic would be a concern when building certain constructions/toys from LEGO that require being stable and stiff.

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