About half of the world’s PET plastic—which is used to make plastic water bottles and containers—winds up in landfills. Someday soon, a good amount could end up in LEGO sets instead. The LEGO Group, which has vowed to make all LEGO bricks from sustainable sources by 2030, spent the past three years testing 250 variations of recycled PET materials and in June finally unveiled its prototype for a recycled PET brick that is nearly identical to the usual brick. That milestone achieved, the Danish toy giant hopes to integrate the recycled blocks into LEGO sets in the next 18 to 24 months. The impact could be considerable: the company uses some 100,000 metric tons of plastic resin in its products each year. —Rebecca Katzman
More Must-Read Stories From TIME
- How the Anti-Vax Movement Is Taking Over the Right
- What Happens Next in Ukraine Could Change Europe Forever
- There's So Much More To Say About Bill Cosby
- Death Doulas Used to Be Rare. The COVID-19 Pandemic Changed That
- What It Feels Like to Be a Muslim Woman Auctioned Online by India's Right Wing
- America's First Openly Trans City Council President Wants to Heal Minneapolis
- The World's Farmers Need to Prepare for Serious Cash Crop Disruption
