Toy giant Lego has confirmed that it will begin phasing out plastic packaging from next year, following pressure from customers over its sustainability record.

The Danish retailer said it would begin moving to recyclable, paper packaging for its products after it received letters from children asking it to remove single-use plastics, according to the BBC. 

Lego said it would be investing more than £310m ($400m) over the next three years in a bid to improve its sustainability credentials. 

The toy company will begin to phase out single-use plastic bags in Lego boxes to package the loose bricks from next year, when it will trial recyclable paper bags. It has set itself the goal of having all of its packaging made sustainably by 2025.

In 2015, the company also committed to making all of its products from sustainable materials by 2030. As part of this it has begun expanding the use of so-called ‘bio bricks’, toy bricks made from sugar cane rather than plastic. 

Lego Group chief executive Niels B. Christiansen said: “As a company who looks to children as our role models, we are inspired by the millions of kids who have called for more urgent action on climate change.

“We have received many letters from children about the environment asking us to remove single-use plastic packaging,” he said. “Children liked the paper bags being trialled in 2021 as they were environmentally friendly and easy to open.”