Danish toy manufacturer Lego (Billund; www.lego.com) has unveiled a prototype brick made of PET from discarded bottles. It will, however, be a while before these bricks appear on store shelves.

The company said a team of 150 people have tested more than 250 variations of PET materials and other plastics formulations over the past three years. The team plans to continue examining and developing the PET formulation before moving to the pilot production phase, with this testing period expected to last at least a year, Lego said.

The patent-pending material formulation increases the durability of PET to make it strong enough for Lego bricks, the toy manufacturer said. It noted that the process uses custom compounding technology to combine the recycled PET with reinforcing additives.

Reclaimed PET sourced from US suppliers under quality assurance processes approved by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is to be used to make the prototypes. On average, a one-litre PET bottle is said to provide enough raw material for 10 2x4 Lego bricks.

In March 2021, reports said that the Danish company was planning to make blocks from sustainable materials instead of conventional fossil-based polymers, affecting around 100,000 t of plastic bricks per year (see Plasteurope.com of 19.03.2021). Also part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF, Cowes / UK; www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org) network, Lego said it planned to invest up to USD 400m until 2022 to further its sustainability ambitions (see Plasteurope.com of 29.09.2020).

In May 2021, US toymaker Mattel (El Segundo, California; www.mattel.com) announced the start of its “PlayBack” recycling project to turn discarded plastics into playground equipment, and it also aims to use 100% recycled, recyclable or bio-based plastics by 2030 (see Plasteurope.com of 26.05.2021 and 09.01.2020).