by Bonnie Alter, London
Business & Politics
Lego has changed its ways: packaging of those little Lego men has just become greener and more sustainable.
After a robust campaign by Greenpeace, the Danish company has announced a new plan to clean up their packaging and make it more environmental. Unfortunately, Disney and Hasbro have not been as quick on the uptake, Greenpeace reports.
Earlier this year Greenpeace discovered that some packaging of Star Wars toys contained mixed tropical hardwood—pulp coming from rainforest clearance. As a result of this revelation, Lego investigated the issue. Now they have pledged to reduce the amount of packaging which is a great step in itself. They have also committed to use only recycled fibre when possible, and they will try to ensure that pulp-based packaging is produced in a sustainable manner, when it is not possible to use recycled fibres.
They also said that they would only use FSC certified fibres in packaging materials for its products. A senior person said that “it is our intent that we will only source material from suppliers that are not involved in deforestation”.
APP (Asia Pulp and Paper) is the supplier for the packaging. Greenpeace and other green groups have revealed that APP’s policies contribute to the decimation of the Indonesian rainforest. Over one million hectares of Indonesian rainforest are cleared every year.
Greenpeace has already launched a successful campaign to make Mattel stop using APP after it turned out that Barbie’s packaging had come from pulp from Indonesian rainforests. The company has also been dumped by WalMart, Staples, Carre-Four and Tesco.
However Hasbro and Disney are not playing ball. Hasbro has said that they are fixing the problem, but has not shown much conviction. No more Transformers, kids. Disney has not replied to charges at all. Shame on you Mickey.
(Source: www.treehugger.com )