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I was just chatting with friends about my misgivings of gifting Lego sets to my kid. He absolutely loves building them and I enjoy serving as building assistant

I was just chatting with friends about my misgivings of gifting Lego sets to my kid. He absolutely loves building them and I enjoy serving as building assistant to him. But Lego makes thousands of pounds of new plastic toys every year. I’m not sure I want to support that. We’re looking at buying used bricks in bulk, and you can find instructions online. But then you’re bidding against everyone else.

accrual 3y ago
If this references buying on eBay, couldn't one just filter by Buy It Now?
fsloth 3y ago
”Lego makes thousands of pounds of new plastic toys every year.” There is nothing inherently wrong about plastic. Plastic waste is the problem. Cheap plastic waste. In general Lego - is used for decades - is not cheap Plastic has it’s uses. It’s not inherently evil. Lego’s use of plastic is the best kind. There is nothing wrong in supporting Lego.
- stevage 3y ago
  That doesn't mean there's nothing wrong with it. It still consumes a non renewable resource, and a lot of Lego still ends up in the environment or landfills.
  - fsloth 3y ago
    "It still consumes a non renewable resource..." As does most of our current industrial processes. I really can't see beyond blind value signaling why anyone would want to single out Lego. "It's a really familiar brand and uses plastics - let's take them down a notch". Far too easy and also misplaced. If all companies made their products as lasting as Lego we would have lot less problems. Lego should be held as an aspirational role model, not a pariah.
    - ranguna 3y ago
      > As does most of our current industrial processes. Thanks for backing up the original OP's reasoning. That's why you should always try to reuse instead of buying new.
      - fsloth 3y ago
        "That's why you should always try to reuse instead of buying new." I totally agree. I disagreed with targeting specific companies especially when their product is very long lasting with robust resale market (meaning the chances of the product just ending up in a landfill are small).
      - goalieca 3y ago
        Lego uses high quality plastic that last generations. I’ve handed down boxes to my kids and it will probably be handed down to theirs. Recycled plastic is lower quality.
    - stevage 3y ago
      > I really can't see beyond blind value signaling why anyone would want to single out Lego Who is singling out Lego? Every company needs to drastically reduce their consumption of non-renewable resources, their generation of CO2, and their environmental impact. Lego makes 60 billion bricks a year, it's a scale big enough to not get a free pass.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
nayuki 3y ago
The amount of plastic in LEGO is a drop in the bucket compared to: Plastic packaging for food and goods, bottled drinks, car parts (panels etc; remember that a car is completely trash after ~20 years), plastic in shared goods such as school chairs and airplane cabins. So, it's simply not worth worrying about.
- troupo 3y ago
  I was at an event were the organizers praised themselves for caring about the planet, sustainability, and for how green they were. They were also serving cookies individually wrapped in plastic.
  - sasaf5 3y ago
    I once saw for sale a new copy of "F**k Plastic", wrapped in plastic.
  - PhasmaFelis 3y ago
    Without knowing anything about them, the amount of plastic they saved could easily be many orders of magnitude greater than a few hundred cookie wrappers. You're placing more importance on the cookies just because they're more visible.
  - Proziam 3y ago
    Cellophane, or plastic? One of the two is biodegradable.
    - troupo 3y ago
      No idea. Looked it up, it turns out a lot of what we think is cellophane is actually plastic, so doubly no idea.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- tommiegannert 3y ago
  This is a strawman. If we want to stop using fossils, it doesn't matter which use-cases we stop first. The main general problem in veening off fossils I see is that economies will crash and there will be wars if we regulate away use of fossils. So that's not going to happen any time soon. However, LEGO is a completely optional/luxury aspect that won't affect economies at large, so perhaps it's better to start there. There are probably many of these "drops in the bucket" that together form something impactful.
Rastonbury 3y ago
If you're willing to go through the trade offs in not using large scale first hand plastic, surely buying second hand isn't that much of an inconvenience
squokko 3y ago
Go calculate what a small fraction of your total plastic footprint is Lego. Worrying about it for one millisecond is complete lunacy
Turing_Machine 3y ago
Lego lasts for decades, usually (the very fact that there is a used market is evidence of that). It's not quite the same as one-use, disposable plastic items.
tippytippytango 3y ago
Lego inspires kids to be engineers and that can contribute to solving environmental problems.
- actionfromafar 3y ago
  Or create more problems.
- eimrine 3y ago
  Aren't engineers did the environment problem?

accrual 3y ago

If this references buying on eBay, couldn't one just filter by Buy It Now?

fsloth 3y ago

”Lego makes thousands of pounds of new plastic toys every year.” There is nothing inherently wrong about plastic. Plastic waste is the problem. Cheap plastic waste. In general Lego - is used for decades - is not cheap Plastic has it’s uses. It’s not inherently evil. Lego’s use of plastic is the best kind. There is nothing wrong in supporting Lego.

stevage 3y ago
That doesn't mean there's nothing wrong with it. It still consumes a non renewable resource, and a lot of Lego still ends up in the environment or landfills.
- fsloth 3y ago
  "It still consumes a non renewable resource..." As does most of our current industrial processes. I really can't see beyond blind value signaling why anyone would want to single out Lego. "It's a really familiar brand and uses plastics - let's take them down a notch". Far too easy and also misplaced. If all companies made their products as lasting as Lego we would have lot less problems. Lego should be held as an aspirational role model, not a pariah.
  - ranguna 3y ago
    > As does most of our current industrial processes. Thanks for backing up the original OP's reasoning. That's why you should always try to reuse instead of buying new.
    - fsloth 3y ago
      "That's why you should always try to reuse instead of buying new." I totally agree. I disagreed with targeting specific companies especially when their product is very long lasting with robust resale market (meaning the chances of the product just ending up in a landfill are small).
    - goalieca 3y ago
      Lego uses high quality plastic that last generations. I’ve handed down boxes to my kids and it will probably be handed down to theirs. Recycled plastic is lower quality.
  - stevage 3y ago
    > I really can't see beyond blind value signaling why anyone would want to single out Lego Who is singling out Lego? Every company needs to drastically reduce their consumption of non-renewable resources, their generation of CO2, and their environmental impact. Lego makes 60 billion bricks a year, it's a scale big enough to not get a free pass.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

nayuki 3y ago

The amount of plastic in LEGO is a drop in the bucket compared to: Plastic packaging for food and goods, bottled drinks, car parts (panels etc; remember that a car is completely trash after ~20 years), plastic in shared goods such as school chairs and airplane cabins. So, it's simply not worth worrying about.

troupo 3y ago
I was at an event were the organizers praised themselves for caring about the planet, sustainability, and for how green they were. They were also serving cookies individually wrapped in plastic.
- sasaf5 3y ago
  I once saw for sale a new copy of "F**k Plastic", wrapped in plastic.
- PhasmaFelis 3y ago
  Without knowing anything about them, the amount of plastic they saved could easily be many orders of magnitude greater than a few hundred cookie wrappers. You're placing more importance on the cookies just because they're more visible.
- Proziam 3y ago
  Cellophane, or plastic? One of the two is biodegradable.
  - troupo 3y ago
    No idea. Looked it up, it turns out a lot of what we think is cellophane is actually plastic, so doubly no idea.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
tommiegannert 3y ago
This is a strawman. If we want to stop using fossils, it doesn't matter which use-cases we stop first. The main general problem in veening off fossils I see is that economies will crash and there will be wars if we regulate away use of fossils. So that's not going to happen any time soon. However, LEGO is a completely optional/luxury aspect that won't affect economies at large, so perhaps it's better to start there. There are probably many of these "drops in the bucket" that together form something impactful.

Rastonbury 3y ago

If you're willing to go through the trade offs in not using large scale first hand plastic, surely buying second hand isn't that much of an inconvenience

squokko 3y ago

Go calculate what a small fraction of your total plastic footprint is Lego. Worrying about it for one millisecond is complete lunacy

Turing_Machine 3y ago

Lego lasts for decades, usually (the very fact that there is a used market is evidence of that). It's not quite the same as one-use, disposable plastic items.

tippytippytango 3y ago

Lego inspires kids to be engineers and that can contribute to solving environmental problems.

actionfromafar 3y ago
Or create more problems.
eimrine 3y ago
Aren't engineers did the environment problem?