sustainability

New Cardboard Pick-A-Brick Boxes: semi-exhaustive testing.

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If you live within coo-ee of a LEGO Branded Store, you will probably be familiar with the standard pick-a-brick cup. Coming in 2 sizes, they provide LEGO builders with a fantastic opportunity to load up on a variety of elements in bulk, with out having to deal with online ordering and delivery times. However, as a stackable truncated cone, they can be difficult to fill to maximum efficiency. Especially if you are looking to stock up on basic bricks.

Sometime between now and the end of March 2024, the Plastic pick-a-brick (PAB) cups are being replaced by cardboard boxes. This is in line with the company’s goal to ditch single-use plastics in packaging by 2025. [the imprecise rollout date is dependent on when regions deplate their supply of plastic cups.)

The LEGO Group sent over a sample of the boxes to evaluate: and so I set out to answer the questions that many people have about these boxes.

And quite a few that they may not!

But before looking too closely at them, let’s remind ourself of the cups that will be replaced:

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Dancing Jeep to Jeep: 76958 Dilophosaurus Ambush vs 76960 Brachiosaurus Discovery

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Nobody will deny that Dinosaurs are the principal non-human characters in Jurassic Park. They make the place unique and provide the narrative with a sense of drama. The humans share in their part of the heroics, but the Dinosaurs steal the show. There is, however, something else that contributes to the Character of Jurassic Park: The vehicles. They give the humans a way to travel at speeds that might be able to escape a rampaging Raptor, a terrifying Tyrannosaurus or a stationary Stegasaurus… wait- scratch that last one.

After years of waiting, the iconic Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler – used as a utility vehicle around the park – has finally arrived in LEGO® form, in not just one, but two sets.

They are 76958 Dilophosaurus Ambush and 76960 Brachiosaurus Discovery. Priced at $USD19.99/AUD42.99 and $USD79.99/AUD139.99, respectively, they represent the entry-level and premium sets in the range. One comes with a single minifigure, while the other has 3; one has a small side build, while the other dedicates half its part count to a most delightful tree. But they both have a JEEP WRANGLER, and that is what I want to focus on today.

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Single Use Plastic Stickers To Be Phased Out From LEGO Sets By 2025! [April Fools]

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Last year, we revealed the look and sound of paper bags being introduced to replace the single-use plastic bags found containing our elements within LEGO Sets. Today, we hear that the Sustainability Juggernaut drives on, with the LEGO Group announcing that single-use plastic stickers will be discontinued in the coming months. 

Speaking at a late night sustainability forum in Copenhagen, Project Lead Just Stikkarssen explained, “We have been listening to our fans, both young and old, and they told us that they don’t like single-use stickers.”

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We Stress Test the New ‘In Box’ Paper Bags

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At the recent Recognised LEGO® Fan Media Days, we were treated to a presentation by the sustainability team with regard to progress being made on their various programs. The first part if the presentation was from Therese Noorlander, Senior Director of Sustainability Engagement. She spoke about some of the history of sustainability withing the LEGO Group – taking it back to the the Great Yo-Yo Craze of the 1930s: when the craze ended, leaving the company with boxes of unsold yo-yos, they were cut in half and used as wheels for toy wooden trucks, through to the ongoing research with regard to finding a sustainable material to use for plastic bricks. Most of this information has been published previously, and can be found on the LEGO Group’s sustainability website.
However, some of the most exciting news, not previously covered elsewhere, came from Anne Boye Møller, who for the past four years has been the Project Lead for the sustainable prepack. She works with a team based in Denmark and the Czech Republic and was proud to announce that the first generation packing lines are ready to go, and some of the first SKUs(sets) have been packed using these paper bags.

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Counting Down to 90 Years of Play, Part 9 2012-2021

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We have been counting down to the 90th anniversary of the LEGO Group, which is now ( at the time of writing) only one more sleep away! We have travelled from the time that the company made wooden yo-yos and pull-along animals, and seen it pivot towards plastics and develop the brick. We have seen the Minifigure arrive and storytelling enter the fore. We have seen the company come back from the brink of financial collapse, to stabilise and start to grow.

As we travel through the 2010s, we get some new friends; storytelling becomes more animated, sustainability enters the agenda; and adult fans are asked for their ideas and become part of the acknowledged target demographic.

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The New Building Instruction Design: Official Statement and Editorial Rant

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I’m a bit cross. While I am a bit disappointed with the new LEGO instruction manuals, rolling out this next half year, I am quite unhappy with the final reason given for it

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Fan Day in LEGO® House With New Fan Exhibition and Live Presentation

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After the pandemic put a hole in everyone’s plans last year, the Skaerbaek Fan Weekend is back in 2021. The Thursday before the weekend has, for 3 of the last 4 years anyway, been associated with a trip to the LEGO House for an AFOL Day. Last year, in the absence of the true physical event, an online event took place.

This weekend, LEGO Fans from around the world – well, the parts that can travel to Denmark, anyway, are heading back to Skaerbaek. And once again, there will be an AFOL Day at the LEGO House. As well as unveilling new exhibits in the Masterpiece gallery, there will also be a number of presentations from Vice President for Design, Matthew Ashton, the Ninjago Team, as well as an update on the LEGO Groups Sustainability developments. Perhaps this is more like what AFOLs were expecting from LEGO Con, held earlier this year.

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Prototype LEGO® Bricks Made of Recycled PET Revealed

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Each year, we hear more and more about the steps that the LEGO Group are taking towards developing a more sustainable brick: elements from Bioplastic; Eliminating single use plastics, use of renewable energy and more. Today the LEGO Group have announced progress in the development of a brick made of recycled PET – the plastic commonly used in plastic bottles.

While the prototype bricks are still undergoing testing for suitability as a substitute for the current ABS bricks, there are still a few questions to be answered, including durability, strength and indeed the ability to ensure that they can be consistently coloured.

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Sustainability Roundtable: Paper Bags and More

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Recently, The LEGO Group announced that they were accelerating their timetable for eliminating single use plastics from their packaging. I had the opportunity to attend a roundtable meeting discussing the LEGO Group’s Sustainability Ambitions. Along with with ambassadors fro several Recognised LEGO® Fan Media and recognised LEGO® User Groups, this online meeting was with Tim Brooks, Vice President for Environnmental Responsibility, as well as Sustainable Materials Directors, Anne Boye Møller and Steen Kjeld Bach Pedersen.

The prime focus was on the recent announcement of the forthcoming trials of paper bags to replace the plastic bags used in LEGO® sets. However, there was a general discussion about the sustainability agenda at the LEGO group, the elimination of single use plastics, the LEGO Replay program, and the importance of children in establishing this agenda.

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Lego Sets Out To Remove Single Used Plastics By 2025

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LEGO Group to invest up to US$400 million over three years 
to accelerate sustainability efforts

http://www.billedwerk.dk

Over the last few years, we have heard about several sustainable initiatives that the LEGO Group has launched: Plant elements from Plants; Searches for non petrochemical based plastics for LEGO elements; improving the carbon offset through the development of offshore wind farms in Scandavavia, as well as roof top solar panels in China. Today, we are excited to hear about the LEGO Group’s Endeavour to eliminate single use plastics. Now, LEGO bricks are predominantly multiple use plastic.

But there remain the single use plastic bags in packaging: inside every box, helping to keep the elements wrangled while they wait to be build into something marvelous. Hiding, waiting until we have need of them. Often concealing themselves in the furthest corners of these bags.

And to that end, the Group have been looking at paper alternatives to these single use plastic bags, in the next few years, as well as making the product more sustainable through reducing waste, keeping LEGO Bricks in action for longer through the Replay program and and inpsiring kids to learn about sustainability through play.

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