Lego, the largest toy manufacturer in the world, said on Monday that it is still committed to looking for environmentally friendly materials to cut carbon emissions despite the failure of an experiment using recycled bottles.
After more than two years of testing, Lego stated it had "decided not to progress" with producing its recognizable, vibrant bricks from recycled PET plastic bottles because it "found the material didn't reduce carbon emissions," according to CBS News.
After experimenting with several variants that proved insufficiently robust, Lego proudly declared in 2021 that the prototype PET bricks had become the first recycled alternative to pass its "strict" quality, safety, and play standards.
Before settling on the prototype, which was made with plastic from U.S. suppliers who had received approval from the Food and Drug Administration and the European Food Safety Authority, the company claimed that scientists and engineers had tested more than 250 different PET material variations in addition to hundreds of other plastic formulations.
An average of 10 2 x 4 Lego bricks could be constructed from a single one-liter PET plastic bottle.
Despite the finding that the PET prototype did not reduce carbon emissions, Lego stated that it was still "fully committed to making Lego bricks from sustainable materials by 2032."
Lego Continues Testing Environmentally-Friendly Materials
The privately held Lego Group, which manufactures its plastic-based building blocks from oil, claimed to have spent "more than $1.2 billion in sustainability initiatives" as part of its efforts to switch to more environmentally friendly materials and cut its carbon emissions by 37 percent by 2032.
The business is "currently testing and developing Lego bricks made from a range of alternative sustainable materials, including other recycled plastics and plastics made from alternative sources such as e-methanol."
E-methanol, also called green methanol, is made by splitting water molecules with renewable energy and is made of waste carbon dioxide and hydrogen.
For pieces in Lego sets such as leaves, trees, and other accessories, Lego stated it would continue to use bio-polypropylene, the environmentally friendly and biological variation of polyethylene, a plastic used in everything from consumer and food packaging to tires.
Consumers Call For More Sustainability
Due to the growing evidence of the effects of climate change and microplastics, consumers are becoming more and more concerned about sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions.
The effects of climate change are already being felt around the world. The planet is warming at an unprecedented rate, and sea levels are rising. This is leading to more extreme weather events, such as heat waves, droughts, floods, and wildfires. Climate change is also having a negative impact on human health, food security, and ecosystems.
There is a strong scientific consensus that climate change is real and that human activities are the main cause. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world's leading authority on climate science, has concluded that "it is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century."
The IPCC has also warned that climate change will have severe consequences if we do not take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.