Denmark’s Lego (Billund; www.lego.com) said it is piloting a service on the UK market to collect, reuse, and recycle its ABS bricks.

In the UK, 94% of consumers who no longer use the bricks pass them on to friends, family, or donate them, the company said. For the remainder, Lego encourages returning unused bricks using a freepost label.

The toymaker said that during the trial period it will recycle the returned bricks into other items such as storage boxes.

Related: Lego posts significant market gains in a declining toy industry

Tim Brooks, vice-president of Environmental Sustainability, said, “Piloting Lego Replay in the UK is an important step on our journey to becoming more circular. We want to rehome, repurpose, or recycle every Lego brick to keep them in play for longer.”

The company added that it recently committed to spending USD 1.4 bn on sustainability projects over the next four years.

Its Replay programme was first launched in the US in 2019, expanding to Canada two years later. Since the take-back service kicked off, North American families have returned over 230 mn bricks, Lego said.

The company recently announced plans to abandon its goal of using recycled PET but said it would continue to examine other sustainable materials.