Recycling isn’t the end-all answer to our over-consumption of the planet’s sources, and the method comes with its personal challenges and disadvantages, however usually, re-using discarded supplies and turning them into one thing helpful once more is a step in the appropriate route. Today, Lego revealed its first brick made from recycled plastic; a prototype that received’t be displaying up in official units for a very long time, however why is it taking so lengthy to create a recycled Lego brick?
Back in 2018, Lego revealed the primary outcomes of its efforts to make its enterprise extra environmentally minded with items constructed from polyethylene plastic created from ethanol derived from sugarcane waste as an alternative of oil sucked out of the earth by invasive mining processes. There was a catch, nonetheless. The new sugarcane plastic was softer than the inflexible materials Lego makes use of for its structural bricks, so up to now, it’s solely been used to create items like crops and timber which have at all times had a little bit of flex to them. Lego guarantees it’s not possible to inform the distinction between outdated Lego fauna and items made with the brand new environmentally conscious materials.
Replacing the plastic utilized in different Lego items has been extra of a problem as a result of it must exhibit the identical properties as oil-based plastics, together with rigidity and sturdiness. The tendency for 2 Lego items to stay collectively when stacked or hooked up is called their clutch energy and it comes from each the distinctive design of the items—together with the scale and form of the studs on high and the hole constructions on the underside—in addition to the fabric used. Traditionally, this has been a plastic often known as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (or ABS, for brief) that’s created utilizing petroleum, which is usually cited as the explanation Lego will be so costly.
As sturdy as plastics will be, they don’t final without end, and in 2013, Phillipe Cantin, a Canadian Lego fan and software program developer, mixed his two passions to create an Arduino-based machine that examined the boundaries of the clutch energy of two traditional 2×3 Lego bricks.
The crude-looking machine had a single goal, it merely related the 2 items collectively after which pulled them aside, retaining depend of what number of occasions that might occur earlier than the items exhibited no resistance when separated. Cantin predicted the items might endure over 5,000 separations, however the machine ran for 10 days straight and revealed that it took over 37,000 separations for the items to lose clutch energy.
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It feels like overkill, but it surely additionally represents a robust dedication to high quality management. And understanding that the Lego bricks you performed with as a child will nonetheless proceed to work when handed onto different youngsters is an enormous motive why the toy has been so well-liked for therefore lengthy. It spans generations, and it’s why Lego seemingly has no real interest in short-cutting its strategy to discovering a sustainable alternative for the ABS plastic it presently makes use of and compromising the standard of what’s simply the world’s hottest toy.
But it’s not an not possible purpose, as at this time’s announcement proves. The prototype brick is the results of three years of analysis and growth that concerned testing over 250 formulations of polyethylene terephthalate plastic (or PET, for brief) derived from discarded and recycled plastic bottles. There are numerous merchandise in the marketplace constructed from PET plastic, however to make use of it to make plastic constructing bricks, Lego has needed to additionally create its personal customized strengthening components in order that the ultimate materials is powerful sufficient to present the items enough clutch energy to carry collectively.
Lego claims the prototype revealed at this time “meets several of their quality, safety and play requirements – including clutch power” however it can proceed to scrupulously take a look at the brand new recycled bricks for a minimum of one other yr earlier than making the choice to maneuver on to begin testing mass manufacturing of the items. The firm says {that a} one-liter plastic PET bottle can probably be used to make ten 2×4 Lego bricks, though it stays to be seen if the recycling course of ends in items which can be extra inexpensive than these made utilizing oil-based merchandise.
It’s, sadly, going to be fairly just a few years earlier than recycled Lego bricks begin showing in units, as along with energy necessities, the corporate will even want to search out methods to paint the recycled materials to match the colourful shade the toys are recognized for. And whereas they’ve succeeded in making a traditional 2×4 brick from the recycled materials, it stays to be seen if it’s going to be robust sufficient for thinner items which can be extra liable to snapping, or if clear plastic items, like home windows and windshields, may also be constructed from PET plastic. As good as it’s to see Lego pursuing its environmentally-minded objectives, it’s uncertain followers of the toy will need to see the corporate compromise on high quality to succeed in these objectives.
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