The LEGO Group has unveiled a prototype LEGO® brick made from recycled plastic

the latest step in its journey to make LEGO products from sustainable materials.
The new prototype, which uses PET plastic from discarded bottles, is the first brick made from recycled material and meets the company's strict quality and safety requirements.
A team of more than 150 people works on sustainable solutions for LEGO products. Over the past three years, materials scientists and engineers have tested more than 250 variations of PET materials and hundreds of other plastic formulations. The result is a prototype that meets a number of their quality, safety and clearance requirements, including coupling force.

Vice President of Environmental Responsibility at the LEGO Group, Tim Brooks, said: “We are super excited about this breakthrough. The biggest challenge on our sustainability journey is to rethink and innovate new materials that are as durable, strong and high-quality as our existing bricks - and that match LEGO elements created over the past 60 years. With this prototype we can show the progress we are making.”

It will be some time before bricks made from recycled materials appear in LEGO product boxes. The team will continue to test and develop the PET formulation and then assess whether it will move to the pilot production phase. This next phase of testing is expected to last at least a year.

Brooks said: “We know kids care about the environment and want us to make our products more sustainable. Even though it will be a while before they can play with recycled plastic bricks, we want kids to know we are working on it and bring them along on a journey. Experimenting and failing is an important part of learning and innovation. Just as children build, dismantle and rebuild at home with LEGO bricks, we do the same in our laboratory.”

The prototype is made from recycled PET sourced from suppliers in the United States that use U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) approved processes to ensure quality. On average, a one-liter plastic PET bottle provides sufficient raw material for ten 2 x 4 LEGO bricks.

The patent-pending material composition increases the durability of PET to make it strong enough for LEGO bricks. The innovative process uses a tailor-made compounding technology to combine the recycled PET with reinforcing additives.

The recycled prototype brick is the latest development to make the LEGO Group's products more sustainable. In 2020, the company announced it would be removing single-use plastic from its boxes. In 2018, it started producing elements from bio-polyethylene (bio-PE), made from sustainably sourced sugar cane. Many LEGO sets contain elements made from bio-PE, which is perfect for making smaller, softer parts such as trees, branches, leaves and minifigure accessories. Bio-PE is currently not suitable for making harder, stronger elements such as the iconic LEGO bricks.

Brooks said: “We are committed to playing our part in building a sustainable future for generations of children. We want our products to have a positive impact on the planet, not just with the play they inspire, but also with the materials we use. We still have a long way to go on our journey, but we are pleased with the progress we are making.”

The LEGO Group's focus on sustainable material innovation is just one of several initiatives the company has taken to make a positive impact. The LEGO Group will invest up to US$400 million over three years to 2022 to accelerate its sustainability ambitions.