The LEGO Group announced an update in its progress on its initiative to transition from single-use plastic to paper-based for its LEGO sets, indicating that more than half of its packaging lines have now completed the change, nearly doubling from the prior year.

The update follows an announcement by the company in 2023 that it would begin phasing out single-use plastic in LEGO boxes, replacing plastic pre-pack bags with new bags made with paper, starting in Europe and Asia.

The initiative forms part of a series of moves by the company as it works towards achieving its sustainability commitments, which include a goal to make its products from more sustainable materials, or those produced using renewable or recycled resources and generating little or no waste, by 2032, as well as its targets to reach net zero emissions across the value chain by 2050 and to reduce carbon emissions by 37% by 2032, on a 2019 basis.

One of LEGO Group’s sustainability strategy’s key focus areas includes initiatives to invest in sustainable materials research to reduce the carbon footprint of products and packaging. Last year, the company said that it had tested 180 different varieties of paper, in order to find a bag that could withstand the manufacturing process and wouldn’t tear in transit.

In its update, LEGO Group said that 56% of its LEGO bricks packaging lines globally have now transitioned away from using single-use plastic bags to paper-based alternatives, including 70% in Europe, 91% in Asia, and 35% in the Americas. The company said that the rollout is nearly complete in China and Vietnam, and that it is aiming for full implementation in its remaining factories in the Czech Republic and Hungary by 2026 and Mexico during 2027.

LEGO Group added that it will look for ways to make the paper-based packing lines work faster, so that their output can surpass that of the plastic packaging machines they’re replacing.

Jesper Toubøl, VP, R&D Packing and Packaging at the LEGO Group, said:

“We are on an ongoing continuous improvement journey. Once the roll out of bags is complete, we’ll explore ways to enhance and continue to make the bags, and the building experience they offer children and families, ever better.”