The LEGO Group has launched a brand new, extra sustainable materials for chosen LEGO tires, created from recycled fishing nets, ropes, and engine oil.
The fabric is created by repurposing discarded ropes and nets from ocean vessels which is then mixed with recycled engine oil to scale back reliance of virgin fossil fuel-based components.
It’ll initially be utilized in seven LEGO tire items, every containing a minimum of 30% recycled content material. The brand new tires have already began showing in LEGO units— indistinguishable from present tires followers know and love. The corporate expects these new tires for use in roughly 120 totally different units by the top of 2025 and plans to discover methods to develop recycled content material throughout extra tire types within the close to future.
Chief Sustainability Officer Annette Stube mentioned: “This is an exciting step in our ambition to make LEGO products more sustainable and reduce our dependence on virgin fossil fuels. Over the past five years, we have invested significant time in developing and testing this new recycled material to ensure it meets our high standards for quality, safety, and durability. The tires are just one of many options we’re working on to make our products more sustainable and it’s encouraging to see something this innovative making it into our sets.”
LEGO mentioned the introduction of this materials, often called rSEBS, is a part of the corporate’s broader efforts to make LEGO Group bricks and packaging from extra sustainable supplies. LEGO SEBS supplies are blends of SEBS (which is an abbreviation for styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene) and different parts. The lowercase r signifies a few of the parts are of mechanically recycled origin.
The group mentioned t right here isn’t any single answer to the challenges of sustainability, which is why the corporate is exploring a spread of options to scale back its environmental footprint and make its merchandise from extra renewable and recycled supplies. Thus far, the LEGO Group has examined over 600 totally different supplies for its bricks and components.
Key initiatives embody:
- Bio-polyethylene (bio-PE) – Since 2018, the corporate has used bio-PE, a delicate, sturdy, and versatile plastic made utilizing Brazilian sugarcane, for sure LEGO components comparable to minifigure equipment and botanical items. As we speak, greater than 200 components are created from bio-PE, with over half of LEGO units containing a minimum of one in every of these sustainable parts.
- Recycled synthetic marble (arMABS) – As of 2024, clear LEGO components—together with lightsabres, windscreens, and home windows—comprise 20% recycled materials derived from synthetic marble, generally utilized in kitchen worktops. The LEGO Group produces over 900 totally different arMABS components, which, as soon as absolutely transitioned, will function in additional than 85% of LEGO units.
- e-Methanol and ePOM – The LEGO Group is collaborating with business companions to buy e-methanol, a cloth produced by mixing renewable power with CO2 from bio-waste. This revolutionary materials might be used to supply ePOM, which is predicted to debut in choose LEGO components, together with wheel axles, within the close to future.
The group mentioned it’s “committed to transforming the raw materials used in its bricks”.
“By the second half of 2024, 30% of all resin purchased by the company was certified according to mass balance principles, representing an estimated average of 22% renewable sources.”
On 11 March, the corporate plans to share its 2024 sustainability assertion, together with full 12 months mass steadiness information.
