Beyond their creative purposes, LEGO® elements are among the few products that have stood the test of time. A brick made over 60 years ago is still compatible with those made today. For many families, childhood LEGO sets are often passed down through generations but there of other ways to expand the use of LEGO bricks. As part of the new ‘Made to be Played’ campaign, the LEGO Group is highlighting initiatives to share the use of LEGO elements and the introduction of new materials. The company is currently piloting a LEGO bricks trade-in program which could be rolled out alongside the current LEGO Replay program. They have also detailed some new materials being introduced to create future elements. These include a material crafted from recycled artificial marble. Learn more below.
The LEGO Group encourages fans to keep passing on their bricks
The LEGO Group has launched a campaign today, inspiring fans and families alike to pass on their bricks so the play never stops.
Billund, Denmark, 19 August 2024: The company’s new ‘made to be played’ campaign demonstrates the versatility of the LEGO® brick and how it can be passed on through generations, maintaining the same quality and sparking exceptional creativity. The campaign features some of the company’s iconic LEGO sets through the years including the first ever LEGO Castle from 1978, the Galaxy Explorer from 1979, and the Black Seas Barracuda from 1989.
Since its introduction in 1958, LEGO bricks’ unique design and interlocking system have allowed them to stand the test of time. It is through this 66-year-old design that the LEGO Group has been able to make a lifelong toy that can be played with in an infinite number of ways and passed on when it is no longer needed so that it does not become waste.
The ability to stack bricks together, something the LEGO Group calls “clutch power”, means that any material used to make them must always meet rigorous safety, quality, and durability standards, and be manufactured to extreme levels of precision and safety for children.
Despite this high bar for materials, the LEGO Group is working to increase the amount of sustainable raw materials in its bricks to meet its ambition to make LEGO products from materials that are renewable and recycled by 2032, while maintaining the same level of durability, safety and consistency.
Annette Stube, Chief Sustainability Officer, said: “LEGO bricks are designed to be played with over and over again – and we want our fans to keep them in play by passing them on when they are no longer being used.”
“The enduring value of LEGO bricks is intrinsically linked to our commitment to sustainability. By designing bricks that last for generations, we aim to inspire endless creativity and stop LEGO bricks from becoming waste. And alongside encouraging fans to keep bricks in play, we are continuing to explore more ways to repurpose LEGO bricks through our takeback initiatives.”
Earlier this year the LEGO Group expanded its LEGO Replay take-back programme to the UK after building on successful learnings from the programme in the U.S. and Canada. The company is also testing other ways to encourage people to trade-in used LEGO bricks through trade-in pilots in the U.S. and Germany, as they explore how LEGO fans prefer to pass on their bricks.
More sustainable LEGO bricks
The company is making further progress on efforts to make LEGO products more sustainable including increasing the use of more sustainable raw materials and introducing paper-based pre-pack bags, whilst reducing its carbon footprint at every step of the production process.
In 2023, 18 percent of all resin purchased was certified according to mass balance principles, which translates into an estimated average of 12 percent renewable sources and the LEGO Group are significantly increasing the amount of mass balance resin purchased in 2024.
More than 600 different materials have been tested in the search for more sustainable LEGO bricks and elements. Some have been successful, such as bio-PE which is used to make more than 200 different botanical elements and Minifigure accessories, or a new material called arMABS which is produced using recycled artificial marble, and is found in over 500 different transparent LEGO elements such as light sabres, windscreens and windows.
The LEGO Group has more innovations in the pipeline, including the development of a material called ePOM that uses cutting-edge technology to mix renewable energy and CO2 from bio-waste, which is planned to be used from 2025 for rigid LEGO elements, such as wheel axels.
Building a sustainable future
The campaign comes at a time that the LEGO Group is leaving no brick unturned when it comes to sustainability initiatives, having increased spending on environmental initiatives by 60 percent in 2023 vs. 2022 and by 2025 plans to have doubled its annual spend compared to 2023. This is supported by the company’s goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 37 percent by 2032 against a 2019 baseline, and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
