So far, eco-plastic has hardly been in demand: Lego & Co. tinker with corn and sugar


So far, eco-plastic has hardly been in demand
Lego & Co. tinker with corn and sugar

From Jakob Schreiber

Toy companies invest massively in sustainable products. One of the most plastics-intensive industries wants to rely on plastics made from renewable raw materials in the future. So far, parents and children have hardly shown any interest in the topic – but the industry is facing change.

They end up in the washing machine, in the dirt, and still almost never break. The small parts always keep their color and are passed on over generations: Lego bricks! Almost the entire product range of the traditional Danish company consists of plastic, which has so far been made with crude oil or natural gas. That could change soon: Lego plans to invest 400 million euros in the development of ecological products over the next few years. The toy manufacturer wants to produce the colorful bricks from renewable raw materials by 2030.

Lego operates in a market that has been growing for years. Last year the German toy industry posted sales of 3.7 billion euros, an increase of 11 percent compared to the previous year. The toy sector is one of the most plastics-intensive industries there is. It is estimated that 80 percent of toys are made of plastic. Hundreds of thousands of tons of freshly produced plastic toys end up in children’s rooms every year. “Just one percent of these toys are made from ecologically produced plastics,” says Harald Käb in an interview with ntv.de. He is an expert in sustainability and advises companies on the transformation to innovative, sustainable use of materials.

“Switching to plastics made from renewable raw materials and recycling is a lengthy process,” reports Käb. On the one hand, this is due to the complex requirements that the plastic must meet. Above all, the issue of safety plays a central role in the sensitive area of ​​toddlers. In the case of recycled plastics, however, it is difficult to guarantee this. The waste material usually comes from several sources, each of which must be carefully checked for pollutants. On the other hand, there are not yet enough renewable resources available. Environmentalists are also critical of bio-plastics because they could compete with food for acreage.

Eco-plastic costs twice as much

Very few manufacturers want to do without plastic entirely. No other raw material is so suitable for making toys: it is safe, can be poured into any shape and colored as desired. And it’s cheap. A kilogram costs just one to two euros to buy.

Lego has been using exactly these properties for over 70 years. The unique compressive force of the stones, their stability and their simplicity are the result of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer, ABS plastic for short. The plastic is also used to make phones, computers, and car interiors. So far, the properties of the material cannot be adequately reproduced with renewable raw materials. The list of requirements is long. “They have to be durable for many, many years, they have to be safe and have no sharp edges if they break off,” says a Lego spokesman, for example.

That is why there is a lot of experimentation at Lego and in the industry. Corn, wheat, sugar cane, potatoes – there are many renewable raw materials that can be used to manufacture polymers. These are chemical compounds that interlink with each other and with other additives and form the plastic. The advantage: the developers can set their properties very flexibly. “With plastics made from renewable raw materials, a lot is already possible, but there are also restrictions,” says chemist Harald Käb. In addition, it has been significantly more expensive so far. Currently, eco-plastic often costs around twice as much as conventional plastic.

So far, consumers have shown little interest in eco toys

Customers currently do not want to pay this price. “The majority are not prepared to spend more money on sustainable toys,” says toy market researcher Axel Dammler ntv.de. For many customers, the desire for something new, exciting and, above all, for a glow in the children’s eyes is much stronger than ecological awareness. “Young people are no different from older people,” reports Dammler. A survey by the German Association for the Toy Industry confirms this observation. Only 12 percent of those surveyed stated that they pay attention to sustainable criteria such as packaging and toy material when choosing the right toy. Much more important to customers are the entertainment value (79 percent), the quality (52 percent) and the price (48 percent).

So why do companies like Lego invest so much money in recycling and plastics made from renewable raw materials? “Not just out of altruism, of course,” says Dammler. “The industry has been worried about stricter regulations for a long time – for example a plastic tax.” The packaging industry already felt that politicians are serious about avoiding plastic this year. Since the beginning of the year, the European Union has been collecting a levy of 80 cents per kilogram of non-recycled plastic packaging waste from EU countries. The governments are supposed to get the money back from the packaging industry.

The authorities could soon also target toy manufacturers more closely. Lego therefore relies on plastic made from sugar cane, and recyclable paper bags are also intended to replace the disposable plastic bags in the sets. The renovations are worth several hundred million euros to the company. “Not an easy way” – indicated the group last. “But we see that it is going well, although we are still in the test phase,” said CEO Niels Christiansen of the Bloomberg news agency.

Retro toys are particularly popular with Germans

But even if the products continue to be made from crude oil: The producers of high-quality and therefore very durable toys in particular are still comparatively sustainable. “Germans love system toys,” explains Axel Dammler. These are toys that in many cases are passed on over generations. For example the rubber horse from Schleich or the farm from Playmobil. “We know customers who bought their children Playmobil figures in the mid-1970s and are now playing with the same figures with their grandchildren,” said a Playmobil spokesman for “Welt” last.

“In order for companies to be successful in the future, they still have to rely on sustainable and ecological products in the long term,” says Harald Käb with certainty. According to a survey by the Association for German Toys, more than half of the toy manufacturers see it similarly: 52 percent of the companies stated that an ecologically sustainable approach was overall positive for the company’s competitiveness. In addition to economic factors, Käb also mentions another aspect: “Toys are wonderful instruments for bringing children and young people into contact with topics such as climate protection and sustainability in their children’s rooms.”

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