FAIL: Lego Aborts Bricks Made of Recycled Plastic, Says Did Not Help Climate

(VINnews) — Iconic toymaker Lego has abandoned a climate-friendly initiative to manufacture its bricks from recycled plastic bottles, saying the prototype FAILED to reduce carbon emissions.

According to CBS News, Lego admitted that its “ambitious” project to make universally-loved bricks out of recycled plastic, will be discontinued.

This decision came after more than two years of meticulous testing, which concluded that the material “didn’t reduce carbon emissions.” Ouch.

Lego is currently exploring a range of alternative sustainable materials. The company believes that its long-term efforts in sustainability will encourage the production of more sustainable raw materials, such as recycled oils, and will support the global transition to sustainable materials.

Lego enthusiastically announced in 2021 that the PET blocks had become the first recycled alternative to pass its “strict” quality, safety and play requirements, following experimentation with several other iterations that were not durable enough.

The company said engineers tested more than 250 variations of PET materials, as well as hundreds of other plastic, before choosing the prototype.

Despite the conclusion that the prototype failed to save on carbon emissions, Lego said it is “fully committed to making Lego bricks from sustainable materials.”

Lego, which is generally made of oil-based plastic, said it invested “more than $1.2 billion in sustainability initiatives” to transition to more sustainable materials and reduce its carbon emissions by 37% by 2032.