LEGO wants to make everything awesome for the planet. In 2015, the Danish toy-maker pledged to spend $150 million and hire more than than 100 extra staffers to research and develop sustainable alternatives to the petrochemical-based plastics it uses to make its signature building blocks. The goal, the company said then, was to transition to either a bio-based version of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, its current primary raw material, or a polymer with a lower environmental footprint by 2030.
Finding a suitable replacement, however, has proven thornier than anticipated. “We want any bio-based material to be capable of being precisely molded, or to mold to just a few microns,” Tim Brooks, vice president of environmental responsibility for the LEGO Group, told Quartz. “And we want it to be shiny.”
Manifesting that gleam has proven to be a stumbling, well, block. Next to a traditional plastic brick, a prototype brick made from wheat sugar appears dull and matte.
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Not that LEGO is going to give up, of course. Climate change is real, and the world’s leading companies will have to rein in their fossil-fuel use if the human race wants a fighting chance at survival.
“We know that making bricks has an impact on the planet, and we want it to be a positive one,” Brooks said.
Via Quartz
