The LEGO Group aims to make all its packaging from more sustainable materials. As part of this ambition, the company is phasing out single-use plastic in LEGO boxes and replacing plastic pre-pack bags with new bags made with paper from Forest Stewardship Council certified forests and FSC-controlled wood.
The rollout of the new paper-based bags, which are verified as recyclable in the European Union, United States and Canada, started in Europe and Asia this year and will continue into 2024 when the rollout across the Americas markets will also start.
Tim Brooks, VP of Environmental Responsibility at the LEGO Group, said: “The transition to paper-based bags is a significant milestone in the LEGO Group’s sustainable materials journey. Phasing out single-use plastic from our products has been very important to us as this material is rarely recycled, unlike paper-based bags. We committed to doing this three years ago and have faced a number of technical challenges to find a bag that would not compromise the high standards LEGO fans expect from us. It’s been a true team effort to arrive at this exciting moment and we’re very proud to see the paper-based bag rollout gain real momentum.”
A challenge for the LEGO operations team
Work on the transition from single-use plastic to paper-based materials began in 2022 with a team of designers and engineers working together to create a bag that would meet the LEGO brand’s quality standards and support a great building experience for LEGO fans. Pre-pack bags are an important part of the LEGO building process as they are used to package together loose bricks and are printed with numbers to indicate sequence, so the bags must not tear during shipping.
The paper also needs to be able to withstand the manufacturing process in all our factories. Paper is more sensitive than plastic to changes in humidity and weather and it has been important to find a bag that can be made and used in all our factories, whether they are located in a hot, humid climate or a colder one.
Around 70 different papers and formats were tested in the quest to get the new bags just right and the team’s amazing work is now rolling off production lines at factories in the Czech Republic, Hungary and China.
Tim Brooks continues: “More than 350 LEGO colleagues came together to solve this important challenge and what they have achieved is incredible. It has not been easy to balance the importance of the building experience, the quality of the product and the engineering and production challenges with the urgent need to be more sustainable. We look forward to hearing what our fans think when they open their first paper-based pre-pack bag.”
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