What we can learn from the Lego case.
After years of testing, Lego last month announced that they cannot make their toy bricks from recycled plastics. They say it would lead to more planet-heating pollution than the status quo.
A first, pessimistic reaction would be that “you cannot rely on companies to fix this, we need strict government control.” I don’t agree. The Lego case is a good example of how corporate sector invests huge resources to find solutions. Yes, it’s disappointing, but governments cannot do all the heavy lifting.
Why is it so difficult?
A 2017 study pointed out some of the challenges Lego has faced:
“Sorting plastics before it is recycled is costly and time consuming. It is energy intensive and the end product has low quality. Today’s technology does not effectively manage all the different types of plastics.”
Lego is not giving up and the study points to solutions: “New research points to better use of chemical recycling methods using less energy and that plastics of different types can be mixed to avoid sorting.”
Is recycling the way forward?
The EU is not convinced that recycling is the solution since “we cannot recycle ourselves out of a growing stream of waste”.
To what extent the industry itself actually is pushing the agenda is also a question. Plastics should be phased out altogether, according to some critics. Recycling is just a way for the oil industry to continue business as usual.
What do other companies do?
The NextWave initiative is a consortium of companies including IKEA, HP and Dell. In the 2022 report they claim to have diverted 20.479 tons of ocean bound plastic (at risk of ending up in the ocean).
Three years ago, General Motors was part of the consortium but has now left, it seems. GM reports that in 2022 that they approximately 24 million pounds of recycled plastic is used in GM vehicles.
In 2022, Humanscale unveiled a new task chair, the Path. This product features 10lbs of reclaimed fishing nets and 22lbs total of recycled plastic. Each Path chair is climate-positive removing 6 kg of CO2e from the atmosphere, replenishing 15 gallons of water, and generating 23 kWh of energy.
Why is this important?
Some 11 million tons of plastic waste flow annually into oceans. This may triple by 2040.
Last year, a historic agreement on plastic pollution was reached. A shift to a circular economy can reduce the volume of plastics entering oceans by over 80 per cent by 2040; reduce virgin plastic production by 55 per cent; save governments US$70 billion by 2040; reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent; and create 700,000 additional jobs – mainly in the global south.
A Friday afternoon check-in on plastic pollution
25 years ago, sailor Charles J. Moore discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Researchers later found that most of the plastic pollution in GPGP came from China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Now, I wonder: will Lego share their test results with other companies and governments to advance research?