LEGO reveals prototype brick made from recycled plastic

Love it!

Makes me wonder that if / when they do make the switch, will certain colors be less/more brittle? Regardless, this is good stuff to hear!

Woop woop! Great news :)

Hey this reminds me…where are the paper bags???

@zeah209 said:
"Hey this reminds me…where are the paper bags???"

being phased in next year i seem to recall..

Hoping this leads to higher quality rather than lower quality, as I have been feeling like ABS parts have dipped in quality in recent years. From a slight translucency in light colours that just isnt present in older parts, to low clutch power in plates, to the brittleness of certain colours, to poor colour matching in certain technic parts, to increasingly messy sprue separation (especially in Bricks and Pieces orders which seem to have lower quality standards in my experience). Not to mention the awful new plastic they started using for exo-force robot hands that has virtually no clutch power at all.

I dont want to be too pessimistic, but the overall worse feel of the new transparent parts doesnt bode well to me.

Neat. Good for them to find a use for recycled plastic. Though I find LEGO to be already pretty sustainable - I have trouble bringing myself to dispose (recycle) bent or even broken bricks... much less throw away perfectly good pieces. :)
Apparently a few people do though, as I've rescued a few pieces I saw on the ground at the landfill... who throws away LEGO?!?

Interesting to see these uncolored prototypes.

I wonder if P...mobil caould be used, too...

Our local recycling center stopped taking plastic 16 months ago, and we've since compiled a garage full of plastic which needs a convenient (less than 30 miles) collection site. If TLG were to to produce a small machine to make one's own plastic waste into new bricks, I'd be over the moon (and would probably have enough pieces to get me half way there)!

One liter of bottles into 10 2x4 bricks doesn’t seem like much at first thought, but it’s better than nothing

This is great! I'm so glad they're taking these steps.
One thought though: "We know kids care about the environment and want us to make our products more sustainable."
Maybe I was a weird kid but when I built a LEGO set I didn't really sit around and think about this :D.

@magmafrost said:
"Hoping this leads to higher quality rather than lower quality, as I have been feeling like ABS parts have dipped in quality in recent years. From a slight translucency in light colours that just isnt present in older parts, to low clutch power in plates, to the brittleness of certain colours, to poor colour matching in certain technic parts, to increasingly messy sprue separation (especially in Bricks and Pieces orders which seem to have lower quality standards in my experience). Not to mention the awful new plastic they started using for exo-force robot hands that has virtually no clutch power at all.

I dont want to be too pessimistic, but the overall worse feel of the new transparent parts doesn't bode well to me."

i've noticed a lot of new pieces breaking/cracking along seams, especially minifig arms and torsos.
my kids also have my legos from 30 years ago and they are still fine, but newer pieces seem to crack a lot. cheese slopes and curved/sloped plates too.

@domboy said:
"who throws away LEGO?!?"

I once overheard a parent/child conversation in a toy aisle which ended with:

"No you can't have any more Lego, remember we had to throw away your Harry Potter Castle because you lost a bunch of pieces?"

Never have I wanted to adopt a child more...

@ahughwilliams said:
" @magmafrost said:
"Hoping this leads to higher quality rather than lower quality, as I have been feeling like ABS parts have dipped in quality in recent years. From a slight translucency in light colours that just isnt present in older parts, to low clutch power in plates, to the brittleness of certain colours, to poor colour matching in certain technic parts, to increasingly messy sprue separation (especially in Bricks and Pieces orders which seem to have lower quality standards in my experience). Not to mention the awful new plastic they started using for exo-force robot hands that has virtually no clutch power at all.

I dont want to be too pessimistic, but the overall worse feel of the new transparent parts doesn't bode well to me."

i've noticed a lot of new pieces breaking/cracking along seams, especially minifig arms and torsos.
my kids also have my legos from 30 years ago and they are still fine, but newer pieces seem to crack a lot. cheese slopes and curved/sloped plates too. "

I've had minifig torsos and cheese slopes have those seams ever since I have even known about Lego existing. It's nothing new :P

This story has made it to the side-bar of the BBC News website:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57575991

I applaud their efforts, and I continue to wonder why they simply don't make smaller boxes to help reduce environmental impact. I understand the marketing aspect of a larger box, but the boxes they use are so much larger than necessary that they must waste an incredible amount of cardboard when considered in the aggregate of all the sets they sell each year.

The first set they should release featuring these bricks should be a LEGO City garbage truck.

If the newer plastic helps avoid that "slimy" feel that today's bricks seem to have (IMO), then I'm all for it.

The challenge will be to achieve the proper mix of the recycled plastic so that it can be molded consistently across billions of parts in dozens of colors and have them all maintain the clutch and fit that we're accustomed to from our LEGO. If the input supply of recycled material can be collected with a known level of quality and consistency, then this should work OK in the end (but that's a big if!). In my industry (medical devices), we generally specify only new plastic to be used in our products for that very reason; otherwise we can't always guarantee that the molded components will meet specifications. But LEGO has their own quality expectations and they can probably find a way to make it work.

@Sandinista said:
"One liter of bottles into 10 2x4 bricks doesn’t seem like much at first thought, but it’s better than nothing "
I'm thinking the article means "a bottle that can contain one litre" rather than "one litre worth of plastic".
Still I was curious so I did some weighing to figure out their recycling efficiency:
10x 2x4 brick in basic colors => 21.45g
1x 1.5l PET bottle (didn't have 1l) with cap and labels removed => 37.32g
So if we assume that the 1l bottle will be 2/3 the raw materials of the 1.5l bottle - and using "standard" densities for ABS (1.06 g/cm^3) and PET (1.38 g/cm^3) since I didn't have time to perform the measurements for LEGO ABS and the new PET formulations is unknown - we get:
10x bricks (20.24cm^3) out of 1l bottle (18.03cm^3) => uh ooh, looks like the "2/3 the raw materials" is off a bit
With these numbers I'd say their claim is quite realistic and points to high recycling efficiency - good job!

@domboy said:
" Though I find LEGO to be already pretty sustainable "
The sustainability issue is not that people throw the bricks away but that the initial production from (fresh) ABS uses non-sustainable resources (oil). Recycling ABS is possible but the material properties deteriorate notably with each subsequent cycle, where other materials like PET take a way smaller hit and can be reused many more times; hence why LEGO is looking for different materials.

Great news! Now LEGO just needs to buy a ship to scoop up the great Pacific garbage patch.

Maybe they can recycle all the broken reddish brown pieces into new ones

@ComfySofa said:
" @domboy said:
"who throws away LEGO?!?"

I once overheard a parent/child conversation in a toy aisle which ended with:

"No you can't have any more Lego, remember we had to throw away your Harry Potter Castle because you lost a bunch of pieces?""
No wonder current instruction manuals are as dumbed down as they are, if there are people nowadays that are as stupid as those parents you mentioned. How anyone who is able to breathe and talk and walk on two legs can be so thick is beyond me.

As for the recycling aspect, I just hope this doesn't worsen the quality of parts even more. I'd imagine colour consistency will be even more of an issue than it is today.

@ComfySofa said:
" @domboy said:
"who throws away LEGO?!?"

I once overheard a parent/child conversation in a toy aisle which ended with:

"No you can't have any more Lego, remember we had to throw away your Harry Potter Castle because you lost a bunch of pieces?"

Never have I wanted to adopt a child more..."

This scenario is not unusual as I know lots of parents and kids who clear out their bedroom cupboards of toys as they get older and move onto teenage things. Some toys go onto ebay if resell-able, but as most of the Lego is just a bin of odd pieces this is unlikely to happen. Which is a shame as most schools, libraries etc. will keenly accept any unbroken Lego pieces, especially if they have elementary play year classes or after school Lego clubs.

@Schmopiesdad said:
"I applaud their efforts, and I continue to wonder why they simply don't make smaller boxes to help reduce environmental impact. I understand the marketing aspect of a larger box, but the boxes they use are so much larger than necessary that they must waste an incredible amount of cardboard when considered in the aggregate of all the sets they sell each year. "

Same with their current plastic bag sizes within the box, they're so unnecessarily large

@zeah209 said:
"Hey this reminds me…where are the paper bags???"

On their way, as previously announced. All packaging should be sustainable by 2025. https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/sustainable-packaging/

They better be cheaper. Im looking forward to this change as long as quality is not compromised

As long as the quality remains consistent with what has come before, I am all for this. However, if this results in worse plastic quality for LEGO, I am not going to endorse those changes.

Excellent and very worthy effort. I just hope that the 'team of more than 150 people' hasn't all been sourced from the team that should be looking at fixing the current lack of colour consistency.

@Schmopiesdad said:
"I applaud their efforts, and I continue to wonder why they simply don't make smaller boxes to help reduce environmental impact. I understand the marketing aspect of a larger box, but the boxes they use are so much larger than necessary that they must waste an incredible amount of cardboard when considered in the aggregate of all the sets they sell each year. "

I suggested on Eurobricks once that boxes should be in two formats: one as they are now for store shelves and another where the boxes were as small as possible for online sellers like Amazon or mass merchandisers like Argos. The smaller format could also have no paper instructions included as long as that was made very clear on the box and at the point of sale. The smaller/no-paper-instructions format would not only be more environmentally sustainable, it would also save on storage, transport and delivery costs. You should have heard the howls of protest on Eurobricks at my suggestion!

I'm down with this on principle and I hope TLG go forward with it. My only concern is that they will up the prices of the sets using the new bricks in the way that Supermarkets do with healthy or organic products.

@Schmopiesdad said:
"I applaud their efforts, and I continue to wonder why they simply don't make smaller boxes to help reduce environmental impact. I understand the marketing aspect of a larger box, but the boxes they use are so much larger than necessary that they must waste an incredible amount of cardboard when considered in the aggregate of all the sets they sell each year. "

Cardboard will decompose in our lifetime—but plastics will not. TLG's cardboard right now is sustainably sourced, certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, and 75% recycled material as is—which are all pretty good things! Plus, I imagine that they will continue decreasing box size as time goes on to meet their 2025 goal.

@JDJohnson said:
"This is great! I'm so glad they're taking these steps.
One thought though: "We know kids care about the environment and want us to make our products more sustainable."
Maybe I was a weird kid but when I built a LEGO set I didn't really sit around and think about this :D."

You were probably "normal," and I guess that makes me the "weird" one FOR thinking about it as a child! ;) That kind of thinking led me to a career in conservation and sustainability, and I am super excited for this announcement from LEGO!!!

I predict crap bricks. If TLG could stop using HIGHLY poluting containerships and use local manufacturing plants instead, that be great

Also, can ABS be re-used?

Cardboxes can be recycled yes, but the LARGE volume of air inside means bigger shipping containers. and the ships carrying those containers are some of the very worst polluters on this planet (that aren't fixed plants/buildings etc)

I'm not excited about this news. The plastic 'recycling' myth perpetuated by corporations has got to be fully accepted by the general population. The information is out there to be had, it is one of the greatest scam jobs in the history of scam jobs. Very little actual 'recycling' even occurs. Maybe there is some scientific molecular restructuring that I am not aware of, but I generally stay on top of plastics innovations, and I don't know of any such science that can fortify already set plastics for durability. Once it's created, re-creation is an entirely different thing.

My fear here is that this will be seen as a public relations win to the uninformed, and we will buy our LEGO and then in a few years that 'recycled' LEGO, if in fact they do try to implement it, will deteriorate very badly. I don't want to pay the dollar amounts I pay for this stuff to 'rent' my LEGO.

I wonder what the “additives” are to make the PET actually workable.

And are those “additives” also “sustainable?”

Thank goodness I have a large supply of ABS bricks already. I shudder to think how flimsy this material will be after a few years.

@Boettner_Builds said:
"I hope it doesn’t follow the “trans clear” route. The new plant “glass” has a weird blue haze to it and is SUPER prone to scratches…"

The current transparent material (MABS) has nothing to do with plants, they just had to stop using PC. MABS is not sustainable, so even the transparent material will have to change again by 2030.

This is great, but I want to remind everyone that the first step in Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is REDUCE. The most efficient and effective way to help the environment is to phase out *single use* plastic, like bottles, blister packs, etc. completely, not by creating more and then recycling it. Plastic is one of the least efficient materials to recycle. Most recycling campaigns are sponsored by plastics companies in order to shift the blame of littering and responsibility for the planet onto consumers, instead of targeting the companies that make waste.

Think of it this way: bottled water and soda companies don't sell water and soda: they sell plastic bottles.

Craziness. Disappointing to see TLG - and sadly many people on this forum - showing a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of Lego.

The key value proposition of Lego is that it is a quality durable as opposed to a disposable product. In other words, its unique selling point compared to other mass market toys is that it is built to maximum quality standards and is built to last. This is borne out by the fact that today's kids happily mix their parents' Lego from a generation ago with their own. It's also borne out by the fact that you very rarely if ever hear about people throwing away Lego bricks (the Harry Potter castle example cited above would be extremely rare). It's why consumers are willing to pay huge premiums for Lego compared to other toys at the same price point - you're not paying for the plastic which costs a few cents, you're paying for the quality.

This in turn means that using a durable material such as ABS for building bricks is not only sensible, it is absolutely essential to what Lego is about, and what TLG should be standing up for and educating people about. It's why ABS was selected to replace cellulose acetate for making Lego bricks (and PET wasn't - all the stuff from TLG about stringent quality tests is marketing fluff; you can't make quality Lego from PET any more than you can from lint).

Instead of this latest spasm of virtue signalling, TLG should instead be focusing on the areas of its operations and supply chains which can reap the biggest sustainability benefits - here are a few examples, some of which have already been pointed out by others above:

* Removal of plastic bags from packaging (already in progress).
* Reduction of packaging (box) size to allow for more efficient transport (more sets per container etc).
* Removal of production facilities from jurisdictions prone to modern slavery and human rights abuses (we all know where I'm talking about).
* Reduction in instruction book size - 5 steps in today's bloated books can easily be collapsed into 1, with QR codes printed on the relevant pages that link to more detailed instructions/videos to help people who get stuck.
* Investing in infrastructure to allow consumers to deposit broken ABS pieces for recycling - not necessarily into Lego - in their local areas; this could operate like sustainable coffee and tea schemes.

Sadly I fear this is just another example of TLG jumping on the modern corporate bandwagon, which is all about issuing fine sounding press releases while watering down the product for all us stupid rubes. You are selling your soul, Lego.

“The result is a prototype that meets several of their quality, safety and play requirements – including clutch power.”

Translation: doesn’t meet _all_ of the requirements.

@pjtnorton:
If you’re talking about the bags they put your purchase in at The LEGO Store, they’re pretty much done with that in the US, I believe. In the UK, you’ll probably have to wait until they burn through available stock first, as there’s no point in switching to a “green” solution if doing so results in you throwing your leftovers in a landfill unused.

@Zander:
If you want to make storage more efficient, reduce the inventory to one SKU. Doing what you suggest would double the number of SKUs, and make warehousing their product twice as complicated.

@nineteenseventyfour:
ABS can be recycled into ABS. However, there are a bunch of limitations you have to keep in mind. The color stays with the plastic, so unless you recycle into black, you can only recycle a color back into itself, and then only if you’re using pre-colored pellets (otherwise you’re just going to keep adding more dye to plastic that is already colored). A certain amount of regrind can actually improve part formation. This number is lower for vacuum-formed products than for injection-molded ones, since the latter requires molten plastic to flow into molds like a liquid (it’s more like chewing gum), and shorter polymer chains helps that process. However, the more recycled plastic you add, and the more the same non-crystalline plastic has been recycled, the shorter those chains will get, and the more brittle the plastic will be. You also won’t have any idea what the provenance is only any outside regrind. This means you won’t know their specific formulation, you won’t know how often it has been recycled, you won’t know if it’s contaminated with another type of plastic (or any other material), and you might not even know what was used to color it. It’s safest to only use your own scrap for regrind, but since they switched to molds with no sprues, they likely don’t produce much except for any marbles parts when they’re purging one color before producing the next.

@Laz:
So we actually know what the new clear plastic is, then? MABS, huh? That’s kinda funny, since back in the early days of the plastics industry, when your two choices for light switch cover plates were brown and tan, these manufacturers used to be collectively referred to as MOBS, which stands for Makers Of Brown Stuff.

@kkoster79:
They didn’t use recycled plastic for those leaves. They used plants to produce the ethyl alcohol that was turned into polyethylene, rather than getting the chemically-identical ethyl alcohol that can be derived from crude oil. By the time it ends up in a set box, you shouldn’t be able to tell the difference, because the final step turns identical ingredients into identical products.