In a massive move towards sustainability, LEGO announced that it would phase out single-use plastic packaging and ensure that all its packaging is sustainable by 2025. The products will, instead, be packaged in recyclable paper.
These bags have been in development for over two years now and will be used starting 2021.
The company also claimed that it would invest $400 million to make all its packaging sustainable by 2025. It also has pledged to make all its products from sustainable materials by 2030.
“We receive lots of letters from children asking why we still use single-use plastic in our boxes, which inspired us to begin to make this change,” said Tim Brooks, vice president of environmental responsibility at LEGO. “This is part of our ambition to make all our packaging sustainable by the end of 2025,” he added.
Annually, the LEGO Group uses around 5,000 metric tons of plastic to pack its products. This accounts for a massive 10 per cent of its total packaging.
For the past half decade, LEGO has also researched the use of plant-based and recycled materials to build its blocks. While some progress has certainly been made, a massive chunk of the blocks are still made with plastics. This is because finding alternatives to plastic that would produce blocks of the same safety, durability, and strength is not easy.
This is not the first initiative that LEGO has taken towards sustainability – towards the end of 2019, the organization had announced that it would eliminate plastic retail bags in 500 of their stores. Those bags will be replaced with paper bags made from 100% certified Forest Stewardship Council material. Last year, LEGO also brought in the How2Recycle® label in boxes that sold in the United States and Canada that gave users the choice to recycle the LEGO packaging.
Also, in 2018, LEGO started using recycled plastic in packaging the transparent film that allows a customer to look into the box.
Kudos to LEGO for making consistent and deliberate efforts towards sustainability. What do you think of this move? Let us know your views in the comments section below.
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