A Lego employee called out the company for wasteful practices following a special Star Wars-themed "May the Fourth" consumer event.
What's happening?
On May 4, 2024, Lego partnered with Disney and Lucasfilm for a special in-store promotion celebrating the much-loved film and television franchise.
On the r/lego subreddit, one employee detailed how extra-large paper bags were given to customers who made purchases, featuring the brand's famous logo spelled in Aurebesh lettering — the alphabet for the Galactic Basic Standard language that is the "common tongue" within the Star Wars universe.
Frustratingly, in a decision that hopefully won't repeat itself with any similar events this year, employees were directed to "rip/cut the bags and throw them out" once the day's event had concluded.
"I understand these are paper and will degrade eventually, but 'Reduce' and 'Reuse' are before 'Recycle' for a reason, these never needed to be wasted in the first place," the employee said, alongside a picture of the bags in the trash.
Making matters worse, they explained that the bags were made by Shanghai-based company Jielong and shipped over to the store, which increases the wasteful elements of the whole promotion.
Why is this concerning?
The Redditor did make a good point: At least these were paper and not plastic. If they were made of the latter, the polluting impact of the wasted bags would have been much worse.
They would have sat in landfills, shedding microplastics that would pollute the soil and the air — and even waterways following rain runoff. These tiny contaminants have been linked to numerous human health conditions, so there is a small silver lining that Lego opted for paper.
But even so, the paper bags would have created planet-warming pollution during the manufacturing process, and they would have been made from wood from trees. Yes, they might be able to degrade, but it would be so much better if the bags were put to use. Instead, dirty fuels were burned to make them and materials were wasted for no good purpose.
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Definitely 👍 What's more, these bags would have racked up some pollution while being shipped. Whether it was via air, land, or sea, they needed to be transported somehow, and it's likely that electric vehicles were not utilized for the delivery process. The size of the delivery was obviously too large, adding additional weight to the shipment that would have led to more fuel being burned than necessary.
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Is Lego doing anything about this?
Regarding this specific example of waste, Lego has not made an official statement. However, the company does have several environmental missions, including to reduce waste.
According to Lego's website, targets have been set for reducing the company's "carbon footprint, energy use, water usage and waste generation." For example, renewable energy is being increasingly utilized for production processes, with 22 megawatt peak of solar capacity added in 2024.
Meanwhile, Lego has also said it has reduced its reliance on natural gas and is installing a geothermal energy system in its Hungary factory that should be ready in 2025.
It also noted that 2023 marked the second consecutive year that less than 1% of manufacturing waste was sent to landfills.
In October, Lego announced that it would source half the plastic used in its iconic bricks from renewable or recyclable materials by 2026.
What's being done about waste reduction more broadly?
More and more companies are responding to customer desire for less waste and less excessive packaging. Supporting businesses that do so proves that money can be made by being kinder to the planet.
Marks & Spencer, a British retailer, has committed to selling food at its grocery stores in recyclable containers.
Elsewhere, Google is now offering two additional years of software updates with its laptops to cut down on e-waste.
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