Last summer LEGO formally announced its vow to retire traditional plastic bricks in favor of more environmentally sustainable ones. The first Plants from Plants bricks launched soon after in a limited promotion, which were followed by an appearance in the Vestas Wind Turbine re-release. We haven’t heard much on the front since then. But today LEGO shared plans on what’s to come for its plant-based bricks in 2019. Head below for the full scoop.
This morning, LEGO took to Twitter to give a brief update on its sustainability initiative. And while only so much can be encapsulated in a single Tweet, today’s announcement did shed some light on how things are progressing, as well as tease a set to come later in 2019.
LEGO Plants from Plants Bricks
The sugarcane-based bricks have been in the wild for quite awhile now. But LEGO has been significantly ramping up the production of new bricks, most notably stating that over 150 plant-based elements are currently in the works. That’s in comparison to the original Plants from Plants set, which only included five different pieces. It’ll be some time before they start making their way into sets. But switching over the production facilities away from ABS injection molding is a pretty daunting endeavor.
Up until now, we’ve only seen plant-based bricks that actually take the form of plants. But with so many new pieces in production, odds are high we’ll begin seeing some non-Plants from Plants series bricks in 2019.
New Creator Expert Set
The announcement also teased an upcoming Creator Expert set. Arriving in November of 2019, the kit is supposedly going to feature some of the new Plants from Plants pieces. Given that we’ve seen a new Creator Expert set debut in November/December for the past few years, it isn’t much of a shock that LEGO will be staying the course this year as well.
We are starting to LEAF conventional plastic behind! 🌳🌿🌲 Check out the first LEGO elements made from plant-based materials. 🙌 #sustainability pic.twitter.com/KM3a4Z3nfE
— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) January 10, 2019
What’s interesting is the commitment to incorporating the new pieces into the set. The Creator Expert sets do carry higher price points than your average set, and the plant-based bricks still haven’t broken into the mainstream yet. But each step helps, and this will surely help LEGO bolster their production capabilities.
When LEGO first shared that it would be attempting to phase out all ABS plastic bricks from production by 2030, it seemed too large a feat to reasonably accomplish. But if LEGO has shown us anything in the past seven months since that announcement, it’s that they mean business.
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