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I wonder where all the bricks go. I still have the lego bricks my parents got for my older sister which I inherited. It’s a huge box, most of it was passed down

I wonder where all the bricks go. I still have the lego bricks my parents got for my older sister which I inherited. It’s a huge box, most of it was passed down to our family from other families . My daughter has already a massive brick collection just because of the sets she was presented with. By now she very child should have no need anymore to buy Lego bricks so many should be in circulation. I just fear they are being thrown away.

bonzini 3y ago
There's a huge secondary market but it certainly could be bigger. I wonder if Lego themselves shouldn't advertise more how to get rid of old bricks.
- londons_explore 3y ago
  Lego bricks are very cheap to manufacture. The main cost is R&D and licensing. Lego themselves are probably better off financially having a recycling program where the bricks are melted down to make park benches, and then making brand new bricks. That will cost less than cleaning, sorting and QA-ing recycled bricks.
  - kuchenbecker 3y ago
    Old bricks keep value very well to the tune of $0.10c/piece. You can get a park bench for less than 2k [1] A park bench made of old legos would only make sense where it was made with 20k pieces or fewer. I would guestimate a park bench of recycled Lego would ba a 50k opportunity cost [1] https://www.belson.com/Parkview-Style-Steel-Park-Benches-with-Steel-Frame https://www.belson.com/Parkview-Style-Steel-Park-Benches-wit...
    - londons_explore 3y ago
      > Old bricks keep value very well to the tune of $0.10c/piece. True, but to the Lego company themselves, new bricks perhaps cost only $0.005 per piece, and old bricks probably are worth far less.
      - Cthulhu_ 3y ago
        To Lego themselves, they're not worth much, but to collectors they will be. But that involves a lot of labor involving sorting, cleaning, organizing, order picking and shipping, the question there is whether Lego is willing to do that or if they leave it up to hobbyists.
piokoch 3y ago
Nobody throws away Lego bricks, there is huge market, you can sell them in various ways (by kilograms, by pieces).
- orobinson 3y ago
  People do try to throw them away. A good chunk of my kids' lego collection is a mixed selection of blocks we found in a skip.
- westurner 3y ago
  https://lego.com/replay https://lego.com/replay : > Q: Do I need to clean my bricks before I donate? > A: Thank you for the offer but no, you don’t. Give Back Box will be sorting and cleaning the bricks before donation. To help them in their job, you can try to remove obviously damaged or disfigured bricks from your donation.
- hyperman1 3y ago
  I got 75% of a 7745 train, a ton of rails, a traffic light and assorted mystery trainish blocks from a bag that someone rescued from a dumpster. Unfortunately, they could carry only 1 of the 2 bags in the dumpster. I got it very cheaply, as they didn't think they would get much money from it. A lot of the rails were snapped. Some have white paint. I restored it, but my heart wept for the previous owner.
Yoric 3y ago
Don't worry, my kid is buying them by the kilo at yard sales :)
Freak_NL 3y ago
The market just grew a lot in the past decades (adult fans in particular, but on all fronts). Also, Lego will inevitably get thrown away, but a lot of it resides in boxes in attics etc. stored for decades for the next generation (my four year old is busy laying out his claim on my stash at his grandparents house and arranging for its transfer to him).
beardyw 3y ago
I reckon archeologists will be digging them up in centuries to come.
zozbot234 3y ago
The whole point of LEGO bricks is to act as a carbon sink for the foreseeable future. The whole construction toys angle is just a ruse.
- bombcar 3y ago
  I have thousands of pounds of carbon sink in my basement!
- alan-crowe 3y ago
  It is more nefarious than that https://babylonbee.com/news/lego-introduces-new-sharper-bricks-that-instantly-kill-you-when-you-step-on-them/ https://babylonbee.com/news/lego-introduces-new-sharper-bric... These are depopulation bricks.
  - sacnoradhq 3y ago
    Christian conspiracy theories need not apply.
- usefulcat 3y ago
  A very, very expensive carbon sink..
tivert 3y ago
> By now she very child should have no need anymore to buy Lego bricks so many should be in circulation. It might not be so much of an issue for legos, but but I've read you should not give vintage toys to kids, because past manufacturing process do not meet modern standards. For instance: vintage yellow megablocks have high levels of heavy metals (https://tamararubin.com/2020/12/how-old-are-your-childs-toys-mega-bloks-large-yellow-building-block-c-2007-5402-ppm-lead-90-is-unsafe-for-kids-88-ppm-mercury/ https://tamararubin.com/2020/12/how-old-are-your-childs-toys...). I threw away some of those my wife got at a consignment sale, because I could not tell when they were made. > I just fear they are being thrown away. They are being thrown away.

bonzini 3y ago

There's a huge secondary market but it certainly could be bigger. I wonder if Lego themselves shouldn't advertise more how to get rid of old bricks.

londons_explore 3y ago
Lego bricks are very cheap to manufacture. The main cost is R&D and licensing. Lego themselves are probably better off financially having a recycling program where the bricks are melted down to make park benches, and then making brand new bricks. That will cost less than cleaning, sorting and QA-ing recycled bricks.
- kuchenbecker 3y ago
  Old bricks keep value very well to the tune of $0.10c/piece. You can get a park bench for less than 2k [1] A park bench made of old legos would only make sense where it was made with 20k pieces or fewer. I would guestimate a park bench of recycled Lego would ba a 50k opportunity cost [1] https://www.belson.com/Parkview-Style-Steel-Park-Benches-with-Steel-Frame https://www.belson.com/Parkview-Style-Steel-Park-Benches-wit...
  - londons_explore 3y ago
    > Old bricks keep value very well to the tune of $0.10c/piece. True, but to the Lego company themselves, new bricks perhaps cost only $0.005 per piece, and old bricks probably are worth far less.
    - Cthulhu_ 3y ago
      To Lego themselves, they're not worth much, but to collectors they will be. But that involves a lot of labor involving sorting, cleaning, organizing, order picking and shipping, the question there is whether Lego is willing to do that or if they leave it up to hobbyists.

piokoch 3y ago

Nobody throws away Lego bricks, there is huge market, you can sell them in various ways (by kilograms, by pieces).

orobinson 3y ago
People do try to throw them away. A good chunk of my kids' lego collection is a mixed selection of blocks we found in a skip.
westurner 3y ago
https://lego.com/replay https://lego.com/replay : > Q: Do I need to clean my bricks before I donate? > A: Thank you for the offer but no, you don’t. Give Back Box will be sorting and cleaning the bricks before donation. To help them in their job, you can try to remove obviously damaged or disfigured bricks from your donation.
hyperman1 3y ago
I got 75% of a 7745 train, a ton of rails, a traffic light and assorted mystery trainish blocks from a bag that someone rescued from a dumpster. Unfortunately, they could carry only 1 of the 2 bags in the dumpster. I got it very cheaply, as they didn't think they would get much money from it. A lot of the rails were snapped. Some have white paint. I restored it, but my heart wept for the previous owner.

Yoric 3y ago

Don't worry, my kid is buying them by the kilo at yard sales :)

Freak_NL 3y ago

The market just grew a lot in the past decades (adult fans in particular, but on all fronts). Also, Lego will inevitably get thrown away, but a lot of it resides in boxes in attics etc. stored for decades for the next generation (my four year old is busy laying out his claim on my stash at his grandparents house and arranging for its transfer to him).

beardyw 3y ago

I reckon archeologists will be digging them up in centuries to come.

zozbot234 3y ago

The whole point of LEGO bricks is to act as a carbon sink for the foreseeable future. The whole construction toys angle is just a ruse.

bombcar 3y ago
I have thousands of pounds of carbon sink in my basement!
alan-crowe 3y ago
It is more nefarious than that https://babylonbee.com/news/lego-introduces-new-sharper-bricks-that-instantly-kill-you-when-you-step-on-them/ https://babylonbee.com/news/lego-introduces-new-sharper-bric... These are depopulation bricks.
- sacnoradhq 3y ago
  Christian conspiracy theories need not apply.
usefulcat 3y ago
A very, very expensive carbon sink..

tivert 3y ago

> By now she very child should have no need anymore to buy Lego bricks so many should be in circulation. It might not be so much of an issue for legos, but but I've read you should not give vintage toys to kids, because past manufacturing process do not meet modern standards. For instance: vintage yellow megablocks have high levels of heavy metals (https://tamararubin.com/2020/12/how-old-are-your-childs-toys-mega-bloks-large-yellow-building-block-c-2007-5402-ppm-lead-90-is-unsafe-for-kids-88-ppm-mercury/ https://tamararubin.com/2020/12/how-old-are-your-childs-toys...). I threw away some of those my wife got at a consignment sale, because I could not tell when they were made. > I just fear they are being thrown away. They are being thrown away.