LEGO Goes Green With Plant-Based Plastics
By: Casha Doemalnd
If you've met Plantus Maximus, LEGO's newest superhero made from Brazilian sugar cane, then you know the company's latest initiative to go green.
If you have yet to greet loveable creature, you're in for a sustainable treat.
Back in 2013, LEGO Group signed a Climate Savers partnership with WWF to help develop a sustainable materials strategy and over the course of five years, they succeeded. Now, LEGO is switching up the formula and using a plant-based plastic sustainably sourced from sugar cane.
According to a LEGO press release, all of the procured sugar cane is in “accordance with guidance from the Bioplastic Feedstock Alliance and is certified by Bonsucro Chain of Custody standard for responsibly-sourced sugar cane."
That means LEGO in partnership with WWF came through on making moves towards a more sustainable material for the iconic bricks. In the foreground of this green push, the botanical elements of LEGO such as trees, bushes and leaves. How fitting?
“At the LEGO Group we want to make a positive impact on the world around us, and are working hard to make great play products for children using sustainable materials,” said LEGO’s Vice President of Environmental Responsibility Tim Brooks in the same press release. “We are proud that the first LEGO elements made from sustainably sourced plastic are in production and will be in LEGO boxes this year. This is a great first step in our ambitious commitment of making all LEGO bricks using sustainable materials.”
So, to all the fellow LEGO architects and artists, the bricks you already know and love are the same but greener because LEGO Group made sure the new plant-based polyethylene kept the high standards for quality and safety as the conventional polyethylene you've been building with for years.
LEGO Group is down to help Mother Earth and has made it a top priority to use sustainable materials in all core products and packaging by 2030. To prove it, they've already taken a huge first step. By reducing the packaging sizes, LEGO Group has decreased their carbon footprint.
Hopefully, Plantus Maximus and his gang of superheroes can help the company go even greener in the coming future!