The hottest LEGO looks for sustainable resin to re

LEGO looks for sustainable resin to replace ABS in toys

LEGO (plastic toy brand) has set a goal: to replace ABS plastic in its building blocks with a sustainable resin by 2030

"I need to find a good material that can last for 50 years, because our toys are passed down from generation to generation." Rasmussen said

at the innovation takes root2014 conference held in Orlando on February 18, Rasmussen said that Lego began to consider the sustainability of materials at the early stage of development. Some building blocks made of impact modified polylactic acid have been tested, so they are "very, very close", but creep occurs during later molding, which means that these building blocks cannot be perfectly assembled after molding

the compact "concave convex tube" designed building blocks are very easy to assemble and disassemble. LEGO has a proper term for the matching degree of building blocks - clutchpower. Liheli is very important for Lego, and a specific test system is built to detect it. However, how to achieve the perfect "liheli force" is strictly confidential like Coca Cola's formula

rasmussen said that other problems encountered in the test are that the machine is set up based on meeting the requirements of ABS and does not match other resins, but the "separation force" is the only key point to be considered in testing any alternative resin

Lego, headquartered in birende, Denmark, has been using ABS to make building blocks since the 1960s, and later briefly used a kind of cellulose acetate

LEGO consumes 6000 tons of plastic every year, 70% of which is ABS, "so I am most interested in using other resins to replace ABS." Rasmussen said

LEGO operates more than 5000 sets of molds on more than 1000 injection molding machines in production bases in Denmark, Mexico and Hungary. When LEGO expands to Jiangxi, China, it will also supply products locally, he said. Therefore, the company needs to ensure that once it is ready to replace the resin, it needs material suppliers in all production bases around the world

the resin Lego is looking for needs to achieve environmental goals while achieving economic significance, and to ensure that this material comes from non food raw materials, so that it will not face questions such as "using crops to make toys" and "having an impact on food"

at the same time, the company needs dual sources. If multiple production bases can produce new resin, once there is a problem, it can be transferred from other bases

in addition, toys produced by LEGO must comply with the provisions of page 3082 of the global toy legislative norms

obviously, Lego must consider some major supply chain issues before making the decision to replace materials

"if I say that we need to change the machine because of the different shrinkage of materials, I won't be a very popular person." He said

at the same time, so as to drive the nut to rotate, he also added that the appearance of the new generation of products must be consistent with that of previous generations

LEGO must carefully track the color matching to control the color. Only in this way can a red building block made today or 30 years later match the red building block made 30 years ago

"when I attend such meetings, I often hear people say, 'Oh, LEGO. Great! I played LEGO toys when I was a child, and then passed them on to my son. Now my son passed them on to his son. It can be used all the time, which is perfect.' I'm really in a dilemma," Rasmussen said, "On the one hand, this is the customer's affirmation of LEGO products. On the other hand, this is also the reason why our business is getting more and more. Next, Jinan new era Gold Testing Instrument Co., Ltd. will introduce how to maintain and protect it, and change the use of fatigue testing machine."

note: the source of this reprint is indicated. The reprint is for the purpose of transmitting more information. 2. Keep away from water or wet places when using the projector It does not mean that they agree with their views or confirm the authenticity of their content