AWARD WINNER: Second Place in the 2025 Ivey Publishing Sustainability Case Writing Awards
Tim Brooks, head of sustainability at Denmark-based The Lego Group (Lego), needed to decide the next course of the company’s sustainability journey after the Bottles to Bricks project to make recycled Lego bricks and other elements from discarded plastic bottles was abandoned. Lego aimed to stop using petroleum-based materials by 2030 and began exploring sustainable alternatives. They decided to use recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) instead of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) to make its iconic bricks. However, after several years of research, Lego found that rPET required additional ingredients to match the durability of ABS and more energy to process, which could increase carbon emissions. Brooks, who was driving Lego’s sustainability journey, needed to ensure that this setback would not adversely impact the company and decide how to go about developing a new sustainable alternative to ABS.