We’re working hard to find solutions to make our products from more sustainable materials by 2032. In fact, some of the LEGO® bricks and elements you know and love are already made with recycled and renewable materials! Whether it’s using sugarcane, recycled kitchen worktops or experimenting with fishing nets, we’re leaving no brick unturned in our mission to make our products more sustainable.
Our unique challenge
LEGO® bricks bought years ago fit perfectly with bricks bought in the future. All bricks – from yesterday, today and tomorrow – fit together and they last for generations without losing their ability to stack together, something we call ‘clutch power’. The high performance we expect from our bricks means any material used to make them must always meet our rigorous safety, quality and durability standards. Our bricks and elements are manufactured to extreme levels of precision and safety for children.
We encourage our builders to pass on bricks they no longer need to friends, family, charities or local schools – helping to ensure LEGO bricks are played with again and again. For anyone that doesn’t know what to do with their LEGO bricks, we are trialing take-back programs like LEGO Replay, which gives LEGO fans in the UK, US and Canada the chance to donate their old bricks. Together, we can make sure no brick goes to waste.
Sustainable materials
Our mass balance approach
Mass balance is a way to increase the amount of renewable input in the materials we buy. Our suppliers mix virgin fossil sources with certified renewable sources (like used cooking oil or plant oil) to produce the material for LEGO products.
This approach helps us to start the transition to using more and more renewable raw materials, but it’s not the end goal. Our ambition is that by 2032, our products will be made from more materials that are renewable or recycled. But right now, there aren’t enough quality recycled and renewable raw materials available. So, until then, we will continue to join forces with industry to develop solutions and do our part to drive demand for high quality, certified and traceable raw materials.
And that’s not all!
Behind the scenes our committed colleagues have been testing over 600 materials in our mission to make our products more sustainable. Some materials will work, others won’t – that’s the nature of innovation. But any material we use must always meet our rigorous safety, quality and durability standards.