Blog with Rob: Legos of the Future

For those of you who grew up playing with Legos (like I did) the thought of those iconic plastic blocks probably fill you with nostalgia.  For our children or grandchildren, those blocks may look very different.

In keeping with the mantra of Lego Group to leave a positive impact on the planet, the toy maker announced this week that they will be investing $150 million over the next 15 years to create new “sustainable” materials that will replace the plastic the pieces are currently made of.

Impressive and pretty cool at the same time. Lego has made the blocks from a strong plastic known as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene since the 1960’s and reportedly uses more than 6,000 tons of plastic every year to make the toy pieces.  This announcement follows on the heels of other steps that the company has taken to reduce the size of their packaging, as well as make it more ecofriendly.

What could they be considering as replacement materials? Wood? Cardboard? They didn’t give any hints, but did say that the LEGO Group expects to recruit more than 100 specialists within the materials field to work on investigating replacements for the current plastic being used.

Personally I think this is a great step for the company to ensure that they stay relevant for future generations of children.  In addition, companies that invest in sustainable technology often recoup that investment with future cost savings on more efficiently manufactured products. Nice work Lego.