Lego Plans To Ditch Oil In Its Bricks For Renewable Plastic

Toymaker Lego has announced that it is on track to replace the fossil fuels used in making its signature bricks with more expensive renewable and recycled plastic, as sales and profits surged, Hanna Ziady reported for CNN.

Lego is aiming to gradually reduce the oil content in its bricks by paying up to 70% more for certified renewable resin.

The Danish company reported that profit for the first half of the year jumped 26% to 8.1 billion Danish krone ($1.2 billion). Sales to consumers grew 14%, considerably outperforming the wider toy industry, Reuters also reported.

In an interview with CNN, CEO Neils Christiansen pointed to the brand’s strength “throughout the world with all consumers,” adding, “our product portfolio resonates super well across ages and interests.”

Lego’s blockbuster results come even though toy sales globally have suffered as consumers cut back on non-essential spending.

Hasbro announced plans to cut 20% of its workforce late last year due to the sales slump.

Lego, which sells billions of plastic bricks annually, has tested over 600 different materials to develop a new material that would completely replace its oil-based bricks by 2030, but with limited success.

Now, Lego is aiming to gradually reduce the oil content in its bricks by paying up to 70% more for certified renewable resin, the raw plastic used to manufacture the bricks, in an attempt to encourage manufacturers to boost production, Anna Stewart also reported for CNN.