In 2015, the LEGO Group announced an investment of 1 billion DKK to find and implement sustainable plastic materials to manufacture its Lego elements. Now, Chinese toymaker BanBao has beat them to it.

BanBao, a Chinese manufacturer of educational toys that, among other things, supplies Lego-compatible plastic building blocks, has announced the launch of a new line of building blocks made of bioplastic. The new bricks were developed in collaboration with Biopromotions, a Dutch company specialized in products made from biodegradable and biobased plastic materials.

“Our new ‘green’ building bricks contain 0% of chemicals based on fossil resources,” said BanBao in the announcement. “Our raw materials are derived from sugarcane waste. Nor do we add any oil-based chemicals during the production process that improve the performance or color of the product. Even the packaging, stickers and the adhesive used will be 100% biobased.” The quality of the new building blocks is high, and the blocks are completely compatible with those of the competitor.

“It’s an exciting project with a positive impact on the planet, and it will also accelerate change in the toy market,” according to BanBao.
Biopromotions CEO Robert de Waal is extremely satisfied with the collaboration with the Chinese toymaker. “BanBao was searching for an alternative “green” material to manufacture their plastic building bricks. It didn’t take long for them to find us. Our knowhow in this area has grown significantly over the course of the years, and we were excited to accept the challenge to work with BanBao.”

The sustainable line of building blocks will consist of 13 sets, targeted at children between the ages of 1.5 though 6 years old. The new bricks will go on sale in the stores in the autumn of 2017.

http://www.biopromotions.com