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LEGO looks towards a greener future

Challenge

At the LEGO Group we believe that our main contribution to society is through our play materials and their contribution to children's learning and development. We also understand that our operations have an impact on the world and do everything possible to ensure that our impact is positive. The LEGO Group has always had concern for the environment, and we are guided by a set of values built on the idea that only the best is good enough. We are aware of our responsibility to our stakeholders and our promise to leave a positive impact on the planet our children will inherit.

Strategy

The point of departure for our environmental strategy is our promise to take action where we have the most impact. We are addressing waste in our operations, and are committed to achieving zero waste from our production by 2020. To meet this commitment we apply a simple but powerful approach:  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Around the world, we are actively reducing materials and minimizing the processes that generate waste, reusing waste created in our on-site production, and recycling raw materials or components into non-LEGO products off-site.

To support the implementation of this strategy we have worked to:  

1) Develop global alignment of what waste is.

2) Create a deeper understanding of our primary waste streams across the business, including element waste (from production of LEGO products), non-element waste, paper, cardboard and wood.  

3) Establish a prioritization process for evaluating waste reduction, reuse and recycling opportunities.

Result

The LEGO Group currently diverts 90% of its production materials from landfill and recycles 100% of all LEGO element waste. We have also improved the recycling of everything which is not used for LEGO bricks.

Recycling and reuse is a priority, from our Canadian offices placing recycling containers by each workstation and separate bins to collect cans, glass bottles and plastics in the kitchen, to our factory in the Czech Republic finding innovative ways to reuse cleaning cloths.

Our production facilities have established waste sorting standards, installing specific waste bins on production lines and shop floors to improve sorting.

Our factory in Mexico is transitioning from wooden pallets to plastic pallets to decrease waste, along with training shop floor operators and staff. These efforts have resulted in the Mexico factory obtaining a 93% recycling rate in 2013.

We are also focused on reducing waste related to our packaging. On average 75% of our packaging material is made up of recycled material. We have introduced new, smaller LEGO® boxes saving more than 6.000 tonnes of cardboard each year.

Guided by our mission to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow, we hope our responsibility efforts will help inspire children across the world to also think creatively about how we can jointly build a better tomorrow. To learn more about our responsibility efforts:

Website Links

www.LEGO.com/responsibility