After 72 years and billions of interlocking polymer toy bricks, the company finally has an eco-friendly alternative.
Jeremy White writing for Wired:
Each year, more than 380 million metric tons of plastic is produced worldwide. Lego is responsible for 100,000 metric tons of it. This contribution to the annual total is, of course, the result of making its classic children’s toy. Lego’s impact may initially appear to be a sliver of that plastic output, but it still counts. Why? That 100,000 metric tons of polymer was last year turned into 110 billion bricks.
Back in 2015, kids' toys conglomerate Lego announced it would be investing a large sum into a Sustainable Materials Center. Six years later and after testing over 250 PET materials, Lego has confirmed a suitable PET plastic alternative produced from discarded bottles. This discovery, made by a team of 150, is the first brick made from a recycled material that meets most of Lego’s requirements for its standard ABS bricks.
Jeremy White writing for Wired:
Each year, more than 380 million metric tons of plastic is produced worldwide. Lego is responsible for 100,000 metric tons of it. This contribution to the annual total is, of course, the result of making its classic children’s toy. Lego’s impact may initially appear to be a sliver of that plastic output, but it still counts. Why? That 100,000 metric tons of polymer was last year turned into 110 billion bricks.
Back in 2015, kids' toys conglomerate Lego announced it would be investing a large sum into a Sustainable Materials Center. Six years later and after testing over 250 PET materials, Lego has confirmed a suitable PET plastic alternative produced from discarded bottles. This discovery, made by a team of 150, is the first brick made from a recycled material that meets most of Lego’s requirements for its standard ABS bricks.
U.S. Patent No. 12,668,672 includes issued claims directed to specific SPTek ECLIPSE® master batch formulations, moving Smart Plastic from patent-pending to patent-protected.
Smart Plastic and its SPTek ECLIPSE® bio-assimilation technology took the top honor at Trellis Impact 26 in San Francisco.
