LEGO Takes Large Step to Move Away from Fossil Fuel Economy

The toy company is investing millions to end its reliance on plastic.

LEGO Group, the company behind the iconic LEGO building block, announced that the familiar toy we all grew up with will be changing for the better. The company publicized details last week of their plans to phase plastic out of their products by 2030. The plans call for major investment in research and development, with $150 million (DKK 1 billion) being spent on the new LEGO Sustainable Materials Center and their research. The center will employ some 100 researchers and will also work with outside companies to create the new material. Given the broad definition of sustainability, LEGO has simply defined their new material as one that has “an ever-lighter footprint than the material it replaces across key environmental and social impact areas such as fossil resource use, human rights and climate change.” In 2014, LEGO Group produced over 60 billion Lego pieces out of plastic, finding another material would revolutionize the company’s products.

This move is no surprise coming from a company that has made many environmentally-friendly moves in the past decade. Recently LEGO Group has invested in wind energy in Germany, switched to FSC certified paper for their packaging and wants to source all of its energy from sustainable sources by 2020. LEGO Group is a company to watch not only for their colorful blocks but for their commitment to sustainability.

William Reckley, Intern