Fossil fuels are essential to modern life, as they are used to make plastics.
Legos are one of the most ubiquitous plastics found in American homes with kids. My son had boxes and boxes of Legos as a child. Building the “Avatar Last Airbender Fire Nation Ship” together was one of the most traumatic experiences I had mothering. I glued that ship together because I would never build it again.
It turns out the makers of Legos have learned their own valuable lesson…about allowing corporate-level wokesters to make important manufacturing decisions.
Danish Toymaker Lego has abandoned its most high-profile effort to ditch oil-based plastics from its bricks after finding that its new material led to higher carbon emissions, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.Lego found that bricks made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (RPET), would lead to higher carbon emissions.”We tested hundreds and hundreds of materials. It’s just not been possible to find a material like that,” Lego Chief Executive Niels Christiansen told the Financial times.
Apparently, “sustainability” goals were at odds with the effective manufacture of toys that worked.
Lego’s change of tactics highlights the difficult decisions facing companies on sustainability where different targets such as eliminating the use of fossil fuels and reducing carbon emissions can come into conflict.The Danish toymaker initially had a target of eliminating all petroleum-based plastics in the 20 or so materials it uses in its play sets by 2030. It made a quick start in 2018 by swapping out oil-based polyethylene for a plant-based version of the same plastic that it uses in about 20 different pieces including trees and bushes.It is also on track to eliminate single-use plastic bags used in packaging its bricks by 2025 with many current sets featuring paper containers instead.But replacing ABS, a plastic that makes the bricks durable as well as easy to put together and pull apart — what the toymaker calls “clutch power” — has proved far harder.
However, Lego made one important discovery: You can’t create plastic using magical new compounds that don’t exist.
Meanwhile, Energy Portal reported that Lego’s decision to continue with oil-based plastics shows the difficulties of transitioning from conventional plastic materials to sustainable alternatives.“In the early days, the belief was that it was easier to find this magic material or this new material that would solve the sustainability issue,” Lego’s CEO said. “But that does not seem to be there. We tested hundreds and hundreds of materials. It’s just not been possible to find a material like that.”
The company has already made a massive investment in its green goals.
Lego told The Post it would be looking into other solutions, such as e-methanol — which is produced from renewable energy sources — adding that PET is just “one of hundreds of different sustainable materials.”The Danish toymaker has set a goal to be CO2 neutral by 2050, with an interim target to reach a 37% emissions reduction from 2019 to 2032 — and is spending an eye-watering sum of $1.2 billion over the next four years in order to achieve this.Lego has already invested more than $1 billion in a carbon-neutral, 1.7 million square-foot factory that will employ nearly 2,000 people in Chesterfield County, Va., located just south of the state capital.
Legos were great for my son, and we made many wonderful memories during our visits to Legoland in Carlsbad. However, it takes a heart of stone not to laugh…especially when I have covered the importance of plastics in our society and the pseudoscience falsely smearing carbon dioxide as toxic to our planet.
I wish the company tons of good luck in its quest to create a toy that works in a profitable manner.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY