The concept of sustainability is all over consumers in recent years. When it comes to consumer products, most changes and inventions we've seen are coming from the fashion industry. 

The toys market seems to be slower to take sustainability as seriously as its fashion counterpart. However, as the new consumers become increasingly aware of what they are buying, it will not be long when sustainability considerations have to be put into their product development, sales and marketing, and innovation strategies... 

According to The Insights Family®, a market intelligence company in kids, parents, and family, across all age groups, environment/climate change ranks in the top 10 most concerning issues with kids in the US. Sustainability is also shown to be at the forefront of kids’ minds when they are making purchasing decisions. 80% of parents of 1-5-year-olds in the US report that they encourage their children to think about their actions and how they impact the environment. Even kids as young as 5 are also considering their impact, a figure which has grown +48% in the last 12 months.

Based on these figures, it seems to make perfect sense that toy brands should step up their efforts in sustainability to win the hearts of kids and parents. 

LEGO is one successful example to have integrated sustainability into its strategies and improved its favourability among kids. Last year, the company had announced a US$400m investment in accelerating sustainability over three years to 2022. They are also phasing out single-use plastic bags from LEGO boxes. Further investments will be made in creating more sustainable products, achieving zero waste and carbon neutral operations, circularity and inspiring children to learn about sustainability through play. 

The company has seen its favorability increase 16.3% among 6-9-year-olds looking for their next toy in Q1 2021 (11.4%) vs Q1 2020 (9.8%) after they announced their new sustainability changes.

LEGO as one of the most famous toy brands in the world is leading by example. As toys are made for children, and children are the future owners of our planet, toy brands should definitely catch up with the sustainability movement to make the world an ever better and sustainable place for all. 

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Below you can find the ambitious goals that LEGO has pledged towards reducing environmental impact as a leader brand in sustainability. (even more ambitious than many fashion brands!) 

• Carbon-neutral manufacturing operations by the end of 2022 and continuing to be 100% balanced by renewable energy in all territories in which we operate. This will involve investing in efficiency measures to lower energy use and carbon emission output per LEGO brick produced.
• Launch LEGO Replay in two more countries by the end of 2022. The LEGO Group will also work with the Ellen Macarthur Foundation network as part of efforts to design more circular products and packaging.
• No waste to reach landfill by end of 2025. This will be achieved by reducing the waste produced as part of the LEGO Group’s manufacturing operations. The LEGO Group sends 93% of all factory waste to be recycled, including 100% of plastic waste from our moulding machines, some of which is reused in our own manufacturing(5).
• 2025 ambition to make all packaging 100% sustainable, including removing single-use plastic in all our products, packaging and operations. This will include banning single-use plastic from all offices, factories and stores.
• 2030 ambition to have all products made from sustainable materials.

LEGO now uses 100,000 tons of plastics in their products per year and any improvement could result in measurable impact!