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by toddmorey·2y ago·view on hn ↗
“But as of now, no final replacement has been announced, and the vast majority of LEGO parts remain fossil-fuel-based”

I think their initial goal was sustainable Legos by 2030. I applaud their decision but it seems it’s been hard to materialize. Bummer but I hope they keep pushing.

1 comments
Using fossil fuels to grow food, move things and people around, etc. all puts CO2 and other pollutants directly into the atmosphere. Using it to make lego, on the other hand, is comparatively benign.

If they can come up with a replacement plastic that has a lower environmental impact, that'd be great. However, they shouldn't use a less environmentally friendly alternative just because it's not based on fossil fuels. That would just be greenwashing.

> That would just be greenwashing.

Greenwashing, also called "green sheen", is a form of advertising or marketing spin in which green PR and green marketing are deceptively used to persuade the public that an organization's products, aims and policies are environmentally friendly.

Green-manufactured LEGO doesn't qualify..

Edit: @beloch: got it, thanks for educating me.

It fits the definition if the new manufacturing process is less environmentally friendly.
Just to state one aspect of this, since I don't think you said it explicitly. Alternative plastics currently are generally not as efficient to produce as mainline plastics, IE they consume more energy. If that energy consumption is connected to fossil fuels, it could be a step backwards to implement such a process at Lego scale. There's also another aspect of, if the demand of global oil used for plastics goes down, it could be more appealing to burn oil for energy, if the price goes down accordingly. There's some argument to be made that while we spin down the oil industry we should be making more fossil fuel based plastics, to be entombed in the earth somewhat like nuclear waste. I say all this unhappily as someone who really wants our species to make forward progress on climate and resource policy.
Note that in a lot of cases, getting rid of plastics really means 'burning plastics' which is definitely not warming-friendly.

* This is done since a landfill has its own issues, and recycling plastics does not work.

“I look forward to seeing what LEGO comes up with by 2030, and given our present climate crisis, it can’t come soon enough.”

I was a bit confused when the author threw this bit in at the end because it seems silly to think Lego is a contributor to that in any material way.