Posted on 09/25/2023 7:15:35 PM PDT by grundle
Lego has abandoned plans to make its famous bricks from recycled plastic bottles, saying that the manufacturing process would be more polluting than the current production of oil-based bricks.
Lego made the decision — first reported by the Financial Times Sunday — after it spent years testing recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as a more climate-friendly alternative to the acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) it uses in the majority of its toys.
The toymaker has pledged to use only sustainable materials in its products by 2032 and, two years ago, unveiled a prototype brick made from recycled PET. The plastic was sourced from bottles that are typically used for water or soda.
Since then, however, Lego has found that making bricks from the recycled material would require investing in new equipment and involve more steps, which would ultimately lead to more planet-heating pollution than the status quo, a company spokesperson told CNN Monday.
Lego’s move underscores the challenge companies face in trying to adapt their products and processes in response to the climate crisis.
“We have decided not to progress making bricks from recycled PET after more than three years of testing as we found the material didn’t reduce carbon emissions,” the spokesperson said.
Testing also found that the recycled plastic wasn’t as durable and safe as ABS and didn’t have the material’s “clutch power,” which enables bricks to stick together and be pulled apart easily, the spokesperson added.
However, Lego is “not abandoning [its] effort to make oil-free bricks” and remains “fully committed to making Lego bricks from sustainable materials by 2032.”
Recycled PET is just one of hundreds of materials the company has tested as a potential replacement for ABS, the spokesperson said.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Somebody actually did the math instead of doing the knee-jerk ‘green thing’. Shocking.
That’s the green movement in a nut shell
Recycling paper is the biggest scam on the planet to anyone who knows how modern forestry works.
Grant money ran out, and the grad student interns needed real jobs to pay back their student loans of $250K only to make Leggo Bricks.
Anyone who likes recycling must like inexpensive energy.
Keep going with the old foot penetrators. Future generations deserve the fun also.
I gave my grandkids Legos for my son to enjoy
Back before it became a “thing”, when I was in my 20’s, I saw that recycled notebook paper cost MORe than virgin paper.
Why would I have to pay more for “used” paper, I wondered. So I never bought any.
If lego was sincerely concerned about their impact on “climate change”,
they would simply cease production of the product.
Ah, well then it is time for them to shut down operations until and unless they come up with a better solution. I mean, why is it okay for them to continue contributing to this "crisis" in the mean time? If it is a crisis, drastic measures must be taken.
Chesterton's fence is still a valid argument. Things are generally the way they because that is the best way to do them.
It does no harm to look into new ways of doing things but don't announce that you are going to do something before you do your research.
They should go with the method that is most cost effective.
CO2 doesn’t heat the planet and plants crave it.
“Somebody actually did the math instead of doing the knee-jerk ‘green thing’. Shocking.”
They should publicize their calculations as that may give other companies some backbone.
Lego tolerances are simply too tight to use cheap plastic.
Sounds like they just want to make Lincoln Logs.
I’ve worked in the container production industry for over 40 years, and in the PET bottle production industry for the last 25 years.
This is the tip of the iceberg of the folly that is the recycling movement.
There is an un-stoppable push for the global beverage industry to switch to 100% recycled PET, rPET, from 100% virgin PET resin.
There are a number of problems with this:
1. PET containers are not infinitely recyclable. The material oxidizes and gradually turns an unattractive shade of yellow, necessitating adding colorant to cover this up which causes processing problems and increases the cost
2. It doesn’t stretch as well, which creates defects and causes more scrap. (increasing the cost)
3. The rPET resin costs 30% more than the virgin PET
4. It takes 30-50% more energy to produce it
All of this makes it an insane choice from a performance, economic, and “Carbon Footprint” standpoint. (If one believes in the global hoax that is the carbon footprint / climate change movement.)
The global beverage industry is well down the road into this process with no end in sight.
It is the definition of insanity.
oil is sustainable. It takes a LONG time, but it is a natural product of the environment.
Also, once you make a lego, it exists for ever. People hardly ever throw them out, they are highly coveted.
So why would an environmentalist be mad that a lot of oil is locked up in lego bricks? Isn’t that like “carbon capture” at it’s best?
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