The LEGO Group wants to leave a legacy and a portfolio of toys that can be played with and passed down through the generations. Now in its 66th year, the Danish toy maker – currently the largest toy brand in the world – envisions a future in which bricks from its 1978 LEGO Castle are played with by children 66 years on from now.
That’s the message it has for fans and customers; a new campaign to bring them all along on its journey towards better sustainability and circularity, by encouraging them to ‘pass their LEGO bricks on’ across the generations so ‘the play never stops.’
The campaign is called ‘Made to be Played’ and it has been developed to demonstrate the versatility of the LEGO brick by featuring some of the company’s most iconic sets (such as the LEGO Castle from 1978 or the Black Seas Barracuda from 1989) and how they maintain their quality as they are passed on down through the generations.
First introduced in 1958, the LEGO brick’s unique interlocking system is still that used across its bricks today, some 66 years later. It’s this system that means LEGO bricks from any year can be played with together, making each brick a ‘lifelong toy that can be played with an infinite number of ways, before being passed on.’
This ability to stack bricks together is what the LEGO Group calls ‘clutch power’ and it means that all material used in their production must meet rigorous safety, quality, and durability standards. Despite this, the LEGO Group remains committed to increase the use of sustainable raw materials in that production process as it reaches for an ambition to make all LEGO products from renewable and recycled materials by 2032.
“LEGO bricks are designed to be played with over and over again – and we want our fans to keep them in play by passing them on when they are no longer being used,” said Annette Stube, chief sustainability officer at the LEGO Group.
“The enduring value of LEGO bricks is intrinsically linked to our commitment to sustainability. By designing bricks that last for generations, we aim to inspired endless creativity to stop LEGO bricks from becoming waste. And alongside encouraging fans to keep bricks in play, we are continuing to explore more ways to repurpose LEGO bricks through our takeback initiatives.”
Earlier this year, the LEGO Group expanded its LEGO Replay take-back programme to the UK where it has been able to take learnings from and build on the successes of its US and Canadian versions of the programme. The Danish toymaker is also testing new ways to encourage people to trade-in used LEGO brick a number of pilot schemes in the US and Germany.
Initiatives implemented across the business to reduce emissions to date has been a mixed bag. At the start of the year, the LEGO Group scrapped projects to make bricks from rPET when it concluded that the emissions used to produce using the recycled material would be higher than its current methods.
This research was part of the company’s continued investment of $1bn into researching solutions to reduce its emissions and drive sustainability across its product portfolio. Last year, 18% of all resin purchased was certified according to mass balance principles, which translates to an estimated average of 12% renewable sources. The LEGO Group plans to ‘significantly increase’ the amount of mass balance resin purchased this year.
There are further innovations in materials now in the pipeline including a project to develop a material called ePOM which uses ‘cutting edge technology’ to mix renewable energy and CO2 from bio-waste. From 2025 it is planned for this material to be used in the production of rigid LEGO elements such as wheels and axels.
The Made to be Played campaign lands at a time in which LEGO has increased spending on environmental initiatives by 60% in 2023 versus 2022. By 2025, the company plans to have doubled its annual spend compared to 2023 on sustainability research initiatives. This is supported by the company’s goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 37% by 2032 against a 2019 baseline and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
