Lego is working towards developing a fossil fuel-free material for its signature brick, the Danish toymaker said recently. It has so far reportedly tested 600 different materials in a bid to switch to a more expensive renewable and recycled plastic by 2032.
The company is paying up to 70% extra for certified renewable resin, which adds significantly to the production cost of a Lego brick. They are also signing long-term deals with manufacturers to transition to an oil-free and a more sustainable model.
"This means a significant increase in the cost of producing a Lego brick," CEO Niels Christiansen told Reuters.
However, he dismissed the possibility of an increase in the prices of Lego sets.
“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,” Mr Christiansen said.
He assured that the company was on track to ensure more than half of the resin it required in 2026 was certified using the mass balance approach, an auditable means of tracing sustainable materials through the supply chain.
Earlier, the company intended to use recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for its classic building blocks. However, the plan fell through when they realised that using it would result in even more pollution than the present material.
A Lego spokesperson told CNN that after more than three years of testing, we found the material didn't reduce carbon emissions. The company was not abandoning its effort to make oil-free bricks, the spokesperson said, adding they were “fully committed to making Lego bricks from sustainable materials by 2032.”
Lego's difficult transition to sustainability seems to highlight the difficulty environmental changes can present for the world's largest toy manufacturers, who have relied on low-cost plastic for decades.