LEGO makes it on Time magazine’s 100 Best Inventions of 2021

November 11, 2021 | 0

Time magazine has just unveiled its Best inventions of 2021 cover, celebrating 100 innovations changing how we live, featuring cutting-edge technology from disability-friendly hands-free sneakers, a supersonic plane, to Covid-19 vaccines.

In a triumph for LEGO’s deep investment into Research & Development, in particular, in the area of sustainability – LEGO have been awarded a spot for their PET Plastic Recycled bricks

About half of the world’s PET plastic—which is used to make plastic water bottles and containers—winds up in landfills. Someday soon, a good amount could end up in Lego sets instead. The Lego Group, which has vowed to make all Lego bricks from sustainable sources by 2030, spent the past three years testing 250 variations of recycled PET materials and in June finally unveiled its prototype for a recycled PET brick that is nearly identical to the usual brick. That milestone achieved, the Danish toy giant hopes to integrate the recycled blocks into Lego sets in the next 18 to 24 months. The impact could be considerable: the company uses some 100,000 metric tons of plastic resin in its products each year. —Rebecca Katzman

LEGO unveiled the prototype bricks in June this year, the fruits of over 3 years of research and development, by a team of over 150 people, the latest development in making the LEGO Group’s products more sustainable.

To learn more about LEGO’s breakthrough in making recycled LEGO elements, check out my interview with Tim Brooks, Vice President of Environmental Responsibility and Nelleke van der Puil, Vice President of Materials, who are spearheading research and development in making LEGO bricks more sustainable.

It’s a fantastic achievement to be recognised by Time for the work that has been 3 years in the making, and I really hope we get to see these prototypes soon.

To learn more about LEGO’s sustainability efforts, check out their website for more.