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Parenting

18th Apr 2017

Lego has announced a massive change to its toys in the future

Trine Jensen-Burke

Everyone loves Lego.

In fact, we all love the brightly coloured building blocks so much that enough is sold every year to circle the world 18 times.

And while this is all sorts of great for creativity and actual real-life play (no gadgets needed), there is also a lot of plastic involved in making Lego. A lot.

As in 6,000 tons of plastic each year.

And because we all know how bad plastic is for the environment, Lego made a huge announcement about the future of their building blocks.

The Lego Group are investing 1 BILLION Danish Krone (which is about $150 million USD) and have established the LEGO Sustainable Materials Centre – as part of a program where they seek to find alternative materials to plastic to make their toys from.

The centre is based at the LEGO Group’s headquarters in Billund, Denmark, and include all current functions and employees working to find alternative materials.

Speaking of their 2030 ambition on sustainable materials, CEO and President of the LEGO Group, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, explains:

“We have already taken important steps to reduce our carbon footprint and leave a positive impact on the planet by reducing the packaging size, by introducing FSC certified packaging and through our investment in an offshore wind farm. Now we are accelerating our focus on materials.”

This is what LEGO Group owner, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, had to say:

“Our mission is to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow. We believe that our main contribution to this is through the creative play experiences we provide to children. The investment announced is a testament to our continued ambition to leave a positive impact on the planet, which future generations will inherit.”