Could Lego Soon Be Made From Hemp Plastic?

This article originally appeared on The Green Fund — Australia’s preeminent source of cannabis information.

While your children may love it, you probably know of LEGO as the evil little bricks that send shock waves of pain into your body when you accidentally step on them.

With the ground-breaking ability for each piece to interlock with another, LEGO has served as the literal building block for generations of children’s toys. And with 19 billion new bricks produced each year, it’s clear LEGO has woven itself deep into the toy industry.

Though when talking about such high numbers and considering that each piece is made using an oil-based plastic material known as ABS, it’s no surprise that LEGO has faced its fair share of environmental concerns.

Because of this, LEGO has committed to finding a renewable replacement for their plastic by the year 2030, and 420 Magazine believes that plastic should be hemp. Since the 2018 Farm Bill, the use of hemp for industrial purposes has been sharply rising in many industries.

Hemp has since found its way into the fuel, paper, textiles, health food, biodegradable plastics, and even cigarette filter industries. At first glance, this seems like a very credible option.