Lego has announced plans to remove all fossil fuels from its bricks by 2032, sourcing its plastic from renewable or recycled sources instead. The announcement comes just over a year after the company axed plans to make its bricks from recycled plastic bottles, saying that the process of sourcing, recycling, and remanufacturing the bottles did not reduce its carbon footprint.
The Danish toy maker currently makes its plastic blocks from an oil-based material called ABS, which the BBC reported recently is not biodegradable, in addition to posing challenges for the recycling process.
This is the latest development in the company’s attempts to decarbonise its products, despite making them from plastic. Currently, Lego manufactures its resin using a “mass balance approach”, which combines “both virgin fossil and renewable and recycled raw materials, such as used cooking or plant oils,” to create its bricks, according to the company’s website.
Lego announced that it procured approximately 22% of the plastic used in its bricks in H1 2024 from renewable and recycled sources. This reportedly represents a 12% increase year on year.
“By doing this, the company aims to help accelerate the industry’s transition to more sustainable, high-quality materials,” stated a press release from the company.
A blueprint for better procurement?
Around the world, organisations looking to switch their materials procurement out for more sustainable options have struggled to find ways to balance an increased emphasis on ESG with the ongoing need for revenue and profit growth. Lego — one of the world’s simultaneously profitable and plastic-dependent companies — may provide an example of how to move forward.
Despite highlighting that its goal of eliminating fossil fuels from its bricks will raise the cost of procuring resin by 70%, Lego has said it will absorb the cost without passing it on to its customers. Lego products will remain the same price, despite the more eco-friendly materials increasing spend further up the value chain.
“With a family-owner committed to sustainability, it’s a privilege that we can pay extra for the raw materials without having to charge customers extra,” Lego CEO Niels Christiansen told Reuters. He added that he hoped the decision to procure more sustainable materials that make the (approximately) 70 billion pieces Lego sells every year will “help accelerate the industry’s transition to more sustainable, high-quality materials.”
