LEGO is turning to cooking oil to make its plastic bricks more environmentally friendly after efforts to use recycled bottles backfired.
The Danish toy giant yesterday admitted it was having to pay over the odds to make its colourful bricks go green.
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It said it was now spending 60 per cent more on eco-friendly plastics and resin from renewable sources than it did buying “virgin” plastic, which is made from crude oil.
Renewable plastics are made from ingredients such as recycled cooking oil, and Lego said it had tested more than 600 different materials trying to find an alternative to regular plastic.
Boss Niels Christiansen told The Financial Times that the extra costs would be paid for by profits and would not be passed on to customers.
By buying large volumes of renewable plastics, Lego is hoping to stimulate more supply and bring down the cost.
Employees at Lego have their bonuses linked to bringing down annual carbon emissions.
But the company faces a stiff environmental challenge because it manufactures billions of plastic bricks every year which are almost indestructible.
More than 27 years after a cargo ship lost 4.8million pieces of Lego off the coast of Cornwall, figurines are still being washed onshore totally intact.
The bricks have been made from plastic since 1946 but the firm refuses to say exactly how many it produces.
Last year it abandoned a high-profile effort to make them with recycled plastic bottles after finding that it would have actually led to higher carbon emissions due to overhauling all its equipment.
The green efforts come as Lego said it was outperforming the rest of the toy market with half year sales rising by 13 per cent £3.5billion.
Its net profits grew 16 per cent to £670million.
Lego said it would launch its first Fortnite set, right, in October as it seeks to capitalise on the online video game’s huge popularity.
Its Star Wars and Harry Potter sets continue to be best-sellers.
PINTA PRICE FEAR
DAIRY giant Arla is warning of milk price rises this year.
The Cravendale and Lurpak owner said global market uncertainty has hit supplies.
Boss Bas Padberg has previously blamed higher wages and wet weather hitting grazing.
During the cost of living crisis, milk prices surged by more than a third and blocks of Lurpak butter were put in supermarket security cages.
Despite the warning, Arla hailed trading as “robust” in the first half of 2024.
It made £140million profit on revenue of £5billion.
SHARES in the big banks fell yesterday amid concerns they could be hit with a tax raid in the October 30 Budget.
Natwest and Barclays had more than £1billion wiped off their value, while Lloyds, Hsbc and Standard Chartered also fell.
TED AIMS FOR WEB REVIVAL
TED BAKER is relaunching as an online retailer just days after all its UK stores shut.
Owner Authentic Brands has struck a deal with United Legwear & Apparel to run e-commerce operations for the label in Britain and Europe.
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United manages Ted Baker’s concessions in department stores and online operations in the US and Canada.
The UK website will be up and running within a month so shoppers can buy Ted Baker’s autumn and winter ranges.
The revival comes days after more than 500 workers lost their jobs when Ted Baker’s remaining 31 shops were shut.
In July, administrators for operating partner No Ordinary Designer gave staff three weeks’ notice of the closures as rescue talks with Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group failed.
Ted Baker, once one of the strongest names in British retail, failed to recover from the ousting of founder Ray Kelvin and the pandemic.
MORR ‘BIG BAZOOKA
MORRISONS is ramping up its fightback against rivals by cutting prices on 2,000 products for loyalty card customers.
Marketing director Alex Rogerson said the supermarket was “getting the big bazooka out” with the big investment.
It has also added 70 more staples such as mince, cheese and potatoes to its Aldi and Lidl price match promotion.
Recent industry figures by Kantar show Morrisons sales are back in growth.
ENERGY BILLS SUMMIT
ENERGY bosses met the Government yesterday amid growing worries about rising household bills.
Executives from Centrica, Octopus Energy, Edf, E.On, Scottish Power, Ovo, and Utility Warehouse held talks with the energy consumer minister Miatta Fahnbulleh.
She told them they needed to take proactive steps to “prevent customers from falling into energy debt”.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has defended her decision to withdraw winter fuel support from ten million households.
But regulator Ofgem says annual bills will rise by £150 to £1,717.
OIL TAX ALERT
ONE of the biggest oil and gas firms in the North Sea has warned it could stop investing in the UK if Labour changes the industry’s tax regime
Equinor said its appetite for investing in Rosebank and other oil fields rested on understanding “the fiscal regime by the new government”.
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Sir Keir Starmer had said he will increase the windfall tax on oil companies to 78 per cent.
