Lego gives up on recycled bricks: BBC News Review

Lego gives up its plan to replace the plastic in its famous bricks.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil. And I'm Beth. Make sure you watch

to the end to learn vocabulary to talk about today's story.

And don't forget to subscribe to our channel, like this video

and try the quiz on our website.

Now, the story.

Lego have stopped a plan to make

their toy bricks more environmentally friendly.

The Danish company say it's because

changing to recycled plastic doesn't actually reduce carbon emissions.

Around 80% of Lego bricks are currently made

from an oil-based plastic.

The toymaker says it's 'fully committed' to making its bricks

from sustainable materials by 2032.

You've been looking at the headlines,

Beth. What's the vocabulary?

We have shelves, axes and backtracks.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's have a look at our first headline.

This is from Circular Online. Lego group shelves plans to make bricks

from recycled PET.

OK. So, we are looking at the verb 'shelves'. Now,

a shelf, as a noun, is actually behind us here.

You can see shelves. But is there a connection between the shelves

in this headline and those things?

There is. So, literally, when you shelve

something, as a verb, you put it on a shelf.

Normally, because you don't need it at that point.

But shelve here in the headline is metaphorical

and it just means leave it for now and it is normally used in this way.

OK. So the headline is saying

that Lego are leaving their plans to make recycled bricks.

They'll stop working on it for now. They'll shelve it.

Exactly. And we very often see the word shelve used with plans,

like we did in the headline, but it's used with other words as well,

like 'project' or 'idea'.

So, for example, Neil, a company might shelve an expensive project

because they are running out of money. Yes.

And we often hear it used in a business or work-related context.

I probably wouldn't say I'm shelving

my plans to go on holiday.

It just sounds a bit too formal.

OK. Let's look at that again.

Let's look at our next headline.

This is from BBC News. Lego axes plan to make bricks from recycled bottles.

So, Lego axes

its recycled brick plans. The word

we are looking at is 'axes'. Now

Beth, I have an axe.

It's this thing that I use for chopping down trees.

Is there a connection between that axe and the 'axes' in the headline?  

There is. So the axe, the physical tool that you used is a noun. Here

in the headline 'axes' is a verb. Now, thinking about your tree, Neil,

it was standing until you axed it. Then it was

on the ground. Here in the headline,

it's an environmentally-friendly plan but it has been axed,

so the plan is gone.

Yes. So chopping down the tree was a literal action, but stopping this

bricks plan is metaphorical.

There was no axe,

no physical axe, involved. Now

how else can we use this verb 'axe'?

Axe is commonly used when jobs or services are reduced. So

a company might axe jobs to save money or your favourite

TV show might be cancelled

if it's not popular any more.

So, we'd better carry on doing a good job

on news review or they might axe the programme.

Let's look at that again.

Let's have a look at our next headline.

This is from Gizmodo.

Lego backtracks on plan to use recycled plastic for bricks.

So the language we're looking at from this headline is backtracks.

It contains the word 'tracks'.

Trains run along tracks and they move forward.

They make progress.

If a plan is on track,

it means it's going well.

But how does adding 'back' to 'track' change its meaning?

Well, it means the opposite.

So 'backtrack' is about going back metaphorically.

Not progressing and not moving forwards. Now,

Lego have stopped their plan

so they're not moving forward with it. They're backtracking.

Yeah. So maybe you say you're going to do something,

and then actually you don't. You backtrack.

You go back on what you said. That's true

and it reminds me,

Neil. A few weeks ago

you looked very smart in News Review.

You wore a tie and you said, 'I'm going to look smarter from now on'.

Ah, well, I haven't, have I?

So I have backtracked. Sorry!

Let's look at that again.

We've had: shelves - stops, for now,

axes - stops completely, and backtracks - stops progressing.

Now, if you enjoyed this episode of News Review

You might enjoy this episode

where we talked about plastic in your blood.

Click here to watch.

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Thanks for joining us. Bye.