The first LEGO brick dates back to 1949. Since then, the company has seen some success and grown into a toy-making juggernaut that in 2020 was valued at some $7.54 billion. So, it’s understandable if the company is hesitant to switch up the secret sauce.
However, the LEGO Group recently unveiled a LEGO brick prototype made entirely from recycled plastic. The prototype is the first to meet the company’s rigorous quality and safety requirements after three years of development, during which the company’s engineers tested hundreds of different materials.
The new bricks are made with PET plastic harvested from waste drinking bottles, and LEGO has a team of more than 150 employees on the project. When the company says it’s on a path to sustainability, it’s more than just lip service. Though, it’s not like we did a head-count.
The bottles are ground into flakes that are cleaned to meet safety and purity standards before they are granulated. The granulate is molted into prototypes that are tested for mechanical properties as well as the all-important "playability.” The company has a patent-pending formula that uses a novel compounding technology to increase the PET’s durability.
For quality assurance, LEGO sourced the recycled PET from U.S. suppliers that use FDA and EFSA-approved processes. The impact could be substantial as a one-liter plastic bottle could provide enough material for 10 two-by-four Lego bricks.
According to the company, it will be a while before these bricks start showing up in sets. The bricks will undergo tests for at least another year before Lego determines whether or not to enter pilot production. Another big challenge? They haven’t figured out how to color the material yet, which would make for an incredibly sustainable yet terribly drab 123 Sesame Street.
