Tyres made from fishing nets? Now it's a reality
Fun fact: technically Lego (yes, the manufacturer of everyone's favourite constructors) is the world's largest tyre manufacturer, producing over 300 million units per year. By comparison, Michelin will "only" produce about 167 million tyres in 2022.
Here's What We Know
Lego recently announced that it has developed a new recycled material for tyre production. These new tyres are already featured in "some Lego sets" and will become standard on all sets by the end of 2025.
The material, called rSEBS (short for styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene, where the lowercase "r" indicates the presence of mechanically recycled material) is created by reusing discarded ropes and nets from marine vessels, which are then blended with recycled engine oil. This reduces reliance on fossil fuel-based primary ingredients. Initially, at least 30% of such material will be used in the composition of each new tyre.
Lego claims that the "fishing net tyres" are indistinguishable from the existing tyres that fans know and love. The company expects the greener tyres to be used in around 120 different sets by the end of this year and plans to explore ways to expand the recycled material to more tyre models in the near future.
The introduction of rSEBS is part of the company's broader efforts to produce bricks and packaging from sustainable materials. Lego has previously mastered the production of plastic from Brazilian sugarcane (biopolyethylene) and has begun making transparent construction elements, such as Jedi lightsabers and car windscreens, from recycled artificial marble (arMABS), which is commonly used in kitchen worktops.
