Lego’s Bold Moves Toward Sustainability: Transitioning to Renewable Plastics by 2032

Lego has stated that it will phase out the use of fossil fuels in its famous building blocks replacing them with renewable and recycled plastic by 2032. However, despite the significant efforts, the toymaker could not totally replace oil-based bricks with other materials as proposed in its initial plan of 2030. In response to this, Lego has quietly shifted its goal to gradually cut the oil content in its bricks by sourcing certified renewable resin at an expensive amount of up to 70 percent more compared to fossil-based materials. This resin which for its manufacturing is vital in the making of the bricks is made from bio-waste, for instance, cooking oil/fryer waste or fat from the food industries and recycled material.

Lego aims to have over 50 % of the resin it uses for its production to be categorized as sustainable or sourced from sustainable sources through the mass balance method by the year 2026. This is a spirited improvement from the 30 percent that was achieved in the first half of the year 2024. What we have here is a company with strong family ownership which has expressed a high sustainability vision and can absorb much higher production costs.

This initiative is of course being championed at a time when there is an oversupply of cheap virgin plastic, especially given major oil companies’ expenditure in petrochemicals, where plastics are expected to contribute to future oil demand. The market for renewable or recycled raw material plastic is still fairly nascent, in part due to most of the available feedstock being consumed by cheap biodiesel in the transport sector. Nevertheless, there has been an increasing trend where manufacturers are willing to embrace the use of sustainable materials, according to Lego CEO Niels Christiansen.

Similarly, Hasbro and Mattel have embarked on their sustainable processes; Hasbro places plant-based and recycled materials into some toys; similarly, Mattel targets using only recycled, recyclable, or bio-based plastics in all toys by 2030.