Why is LEGO Abandonning the Recycled Plastic Project?

This summer, the legendary Danish toy manufacturer LEGO announced a breakthrough: lasting bricks made from recycled PET, derived from soda bottles. The research project was considerable, requiring a staff of 150 working through 250 different plastic compositions to create a recycled plastic brick that met LEGO’s tough quality standards. Although an engineering success, the company announced the suspension of the project, as an analysis of the carbon footprint of the recycling process showed no net benefit compared to oil-derived plastic resin. The company is switching research efforts to versions of resin derived from e-methanol, feedstock made from waste CO2 and hydrogen. Made from hydrogen derived from electrolysis powered by clean energy, this could prove to be truly zero carbon polymer resin. * * *Want to watch this podcast as a video? This Week in Engineering is available on engineering.com TV along with all of our other shows such as End of the Line, Designing the Future, Manufacturing the Future, and the Engineering Roundtable.