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Comment by alentred | Hacker News Reader

Hard to not to have a cognitive dissonance on this one. As a kid I loved Lego, and my kids have plenty too. But thinking of all that plastic that eventually makes its way to a dumpster... Lego is brining so much joy, but you can't ignore the environmental impact too. I am actually disappointed at myself about not having thought to buy second-hand instead.

It is an interesting example of why the pollution problem is hard. Here we are not even talking about anything essential for the quality life, not even comfort. That's basically "just a toy". But, theoretically, would we be willing to give it up if we don't find an environmentally friendly way to make it?

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Who is throwing away their lego? Its probably the one hand me down toy thats truly stood the test of time.

Idk what happened with you, but I inherited legos from my older cousins and then when I grew out of my collection my newphew got it. No legos ended up in a landfill.

If you threw yours out, that's your fault, and does not mean there needs to be an environmentally friendly way to make legos (which will undoubtedly be functionally worse and not last as long).

Oh, I am not saying I threw out mine, I wouldn't do such a thing. It is just hard to imagine that all of it ever produced is not.

Lego is a mole hill compared to the mountain of plastic that is _intended_ to be thrown away - consumer and industrial.

Plastics have become part of our culture. Just about everybody wears it on their bodies.

As for environmentally friendly alternatives, the German company Anker offers “real” bricks made of a mixture of quartz sand, chalk, and linseed oil.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchor_Stone_Blocks

Toward the end of the article they mention the investments LEGO are making into developing sustainable, plant-based plastics. They are doing the work. Keep buying LEGO and feel good knowing you are helping to curb the plastic waste problem.

Lego is $10/lb and easy to sell because of its durability and quality. It'll very often get passed down multiple times. When you don't make your stuff out of the cheapest bottom-of-the-barrel shit you can get away with, people notice and act accordingly.

Adding onto the other comments (durable for generations) - almost no other toy is like that.

Barbies break. Toy cars break or the models get out of fashion. Electronic stuff is broken or severely out of date 20 years later. Sport equipment can be durable, but usually holds for less than 10 years.

In the grand scheme of things, Lego is completely fine, we have hundreds of more wasteful one-time-plastic usages.

I've never heard of someone throwing away legislation. My son and daughter got my collection. Sets from the 80s that are amazing and in excellent shape. Some of them could be sold for thousands of dollars.

Legos are more profitable than gold in terms of investment - literally. So yeah, throwing away Legos is really really dumb.

For me, lego is an example of the mantra to make durable things that last for a very long time (several generations), having the benefit of not easily ending in a landfill or being burnt.

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