46 replies to this topic

[Gamer]

I was just organising my parts from my newly built sets and saw that there are many parts that hold other parts together that we normaly throw out.Like the one that holds coins together or the one that holds the keys together.If we could give them back to TLC for recycling it would very eco-friendly.This is just a suggestion.
Gamer.

[JCC1004]

TLG already uses way to much cardboard for their boxes This might change how eco-nuts look at TLG. No one's going to send them in unless TLG pays for the postage. It also cost more postage to ship them then it would save. It's not going to save TLG money but they'd be wasting it.   It wouldn't look out too well.

[The Who]

Gamer, on Oct 31 2009, 11:56 PM, said:

I was just organising my parts from my newly built sets and saw that there are many parts that hold other parts together that we normaly throw out.Like the one that holds coins together or the one that holds the keys together.If we could give them back to TLC for recycling it would very eco-friendly.This is just a suggestion.
Gamer.

I use the spruces that hold coins together to represent gold nuggets in MOCs. Seems that is the best use of them I have found so far.

[Gamer]

I was thinking that if we could give it to TLC in Legoland or something like that,but you are right JCC1004 it is just too expensive for TLC to ship all those parts.
Booger540 I also used them for gold nuggets.I guess this topic can be closed.
Gamer.

[SlyOwl]

It would be simpler, and thus more eco-friendly,  to not use sprues at all, surely, as they will almost always go to waste?

Perhaps. There are a lot of factors that affect the environmental impact and cost of any Lego part. Sending the sprues back to Lego to be recycled would use fuel and manpower to do so - why can't you just stick it in the plastic recycling? Getting rid of the sprues may result in a more complex production process, to ensure that e.g. one of each type of coin is included, which may or may not harm the environment more.

Personally I'd like to see TLG become more eco-friendly. The obvious solution to this is to reduce packaging size, but as said, there are numerous things to be considered, such as removing excess/useless inclusions (e.g. adverts are now included in the instructions, not separately, as they used to be).

One could argue that ultimately, not buying Lego (and buying second-hand if at all) is the solution to the environmental impact... just a thought

[The Who]

SlyOwl, on Nov 1 2009, 05:10 PM, said:

It would be simpler, and thus more eco-friendly,  to not use sprues at all, surely, as they will almost always go to waste?

Not if using a sprue creates only one injection point, rather than a ton of them, which means the sprue is making injecting simpler, though less eco-friendly.

SlyOwl, on Nov 1 2009, 05:10 PM, said:

One could argue that ultimately, not buying Lego (and buying second-hand if at all) is the solution to the environmental impact... just a thought

Would you support that side of the arguement, though? I doubt it.

[Legoliner Pilot]

JCC1004, on Oct 31 2009, 11:19 PM, said:

TLG already uses way to much cardboard for their boxes This might change how eco-nuts look at TLG. No one's going to send them in unless TLG pays for the postage. It also cost more postage to ship them then it would save. It's not going to save TLG money but they'd be wasting it.   It wouldn't look out too well.

Well, I think the reason why TLG makes over-sized boxes is because big boxes attract kids like magnets. This creates the feeling that the child thinks he is getting more bang for his buck -- but he really isn't.

Edited by Legoliner Pilot, 03 November 2009 - 02:46 AM.

[Black Rabbit]

Edit-I removed the first sentence As it makes me look like a moron and may offend some users.

I generally use the pieces of plastic that hold the coins together as little gold medalions to fill upo my treasure boxes .The pieces that hold the keys together are so small that it doesn't really matter if we recycle them ,that nad the fact tha lego keys don't come in to many sets.

Edited by Black Rabbit, 03 November 2009 - 04:29 AM.

[The Who]

Legoliner Pilot, I agree with you. Big boxes do draw your attention, and they can show a bigger and clearer picture than small boxes can, though they are still a waste of space.

Edited by booger540, 05 November 2009 - 11:22 PM.

[zouave]

I use the coin piece as a cheap gold bar. I'd just do like SlyOwl said and put scraps in local recycling. TLG does need to stop using over-sized boxes.

[Black Rabbit]

booger540, on Nov 1 2009, 08:02 PM, said:

Are you seriously going to try and take this discussion in that direction? Please don't, that counts as your beliefs which have absolutely nothing to do with the discussion of how economic TLG is.

Legoliner Pilot, I agree with you. Big boxes do draw your attention, and they can show a bigger and clearer picture than small boxes can, though they are still a waste of space.

Ah sorry i was meaning it as a joke not my real opinion ,if it offends you i can edit it out of my post.

Zouave - there are 2 main reasons why lego uses oversized boxes , 1 of them is to prevent the lego bricks from getting damaged inside the box. So i'm not really against large boxes but sometimes they do seem to be a little bit like false advertising.

Edited by Black Rabbit, 02 November 2009 - 02:35 AM.

[Tereglith]

I myself of often wondered at the environmental impact of the boxes. I think that a box three times the size it needs to be, made out of high-density cardboard and printed with quality ink, used in every set, is much more of a concern than tiny bits of plastic used infrequently to hold rare pieces together.

(and if we were worrying more about tiny bits of plastic used to hold rare pieces together, I would be ranting about the rubber-band-holder pieces, which is simply huge compared to the job it has to do.)

[Black Rabbit]

Tereglith, on Nov 1 2009, 09:32 PM, said:

(and if we were worrying more about tiny bits of plastic used to hold rare pieces together, I would be ranting about the rubber-band-holder pieces, which is simply huge compared to the job it has to do.)

At least the rubber band holders can be used in mocs for spaceship engines or on bionicles.

[hollisbrick]

booger540, on Nov 1 2009, 02:55 PM, said:

I use the spruces that hold coins together to represent gold nuggets in MOCs. Seems that is the best use of them I have found so far.

Same here!
I actually thought it was a piece of gold that was supposed to be there..

[The Who]

Black Rabbit, on Nov 2 2009, 02:28 AM, said:

Ah sorry i was meaning it as a joke not my real opinion ,if it offends you i can edit it out of my post.

You don't have to edit it, I just find it rather annoying to see things like that in a decent discussion.

Tereglith, on Nov 2 2009, 03:32 AM, said:

I myself of often wondered at the environmental impact of the boxes. I think that a box three times the size it needs to be, made out of high-density cardboard and printed with quality ink, used in every set, is much more of a concern than tiny bits of plastic used infrequently to hold rare pieces together.

Agreed. One thing I have noticed though is that the picture on the box is often roughly the same size as the actual set. I don't know if they do this on purpose, or if it is just coincidental, though.

Tereglith, on Nov 2 2009, 03:32 AM, said:

(and if we were worrying more about tiny bits of plastic used to hold rare pieces together, I would be ranting about the rubber-band-holder pieces, which is simply huge compared to the job it has to do.)

The plastic pieces can at least be used most of the time. I have yet to think of something to use big empty boxes for.

[Ratshot]

I collect/save my boxes so I'm very eco-friendly

[Piranha]

Interesting topic indeed!!  

Some other parts that have the extra plastic  that could be potentially recycled.
Flowers
Coins
Knives
Plumes
Tools
Flippers (scuba fins)

Green On

[Black Rabbit]

Macoco, on Nov 3 2009, 08:21 PM, said:

Interesting topic indeed!!  

Some other parts that have the extra plastic  that could be potentially recycled.
Flowers
Coins
Knives
Plumes
Tools
Flippers (scuba fins)

Green On

The plume holders are large enough that i think it would make a diference if they were recycled , we don't see many of those around anymore though as lego has sort of stopped producing plumes. The same goes for tools as they also have the large ring going around them.

One thing lego could cut back on is the little lego club pamphelets that come in most sets as most people join the lego club by phone or on the internet. They could also just piut the information on the outside of the box.

[Sinner]

All LEGO sprues I keep and use them as fillers or LEGO "rubbish" to fill things like dump truck.

Black Rabbit, on Nov 2 2009, 02:40 PM, said:

At least the rubber band holders can be used in mocs for spaceship engines or on bionicles.

Yes! I miss them...

[Captain M]

booger540, on Oct 31 2009, 10:55 PM, said:

I use the spruces that hold coins together to represent gold nuggets in MOCs. Seems that is the best use of them I have found so far.

I use them as lost pirate "medallions".

[Grimmy]

I've never thought about the plastic spruces but I have thought about the boxes. The boxes are way bigger then need to be. One of the best product packaging designs is by Apple. They make it look good, compact, environmentally conscience withdesigns for pockets for guides. I'm an iPhone user.


I believe the reason for Lego making huge oversize boxes is because of the display to set cost ratio. I've never met a person in real life who hasn't said, "Legos are so expensive." I even said it up until recently. I set out to research and find out why they cost so much. They are an expensive toy to make because of the amount of pieces and molds and precision manufacturing. Not to mention the fact that they are an oil based plastic and dependent on high oil costs.

Most who goes to the story just sees, "it's just a plastic toy why so expensive." Imagine a $60 Lego set like the Winter Toy Shop 815pcs. I recently measured to ship one out. The box is about the lenth of my arm and 4 times bigger then it needs to be. I have the bags on the floor from me. These bags would fit in my 68pc city car box in front of me here, when done right. It would be compact together and their would be less slaming around in the box.

But you know what 90% of people would say? (Since I've read only 10% of consumers are AFOL/the hardcore fans) "wow $60 for this little box! What a rippoff!"  They don't think about how it takes tons of molds, specifically made precision tools to make all the pieces. Most don't realize that plastic is a petroleum based product. Most toys are created from way less molds and the machinery doesn't have to be so precise. I've read about the imitation Lego bricks and how they aren't the same quality.

I actually wanted to make a post on why Legos cost so much and show some of what I found out. Now I know. Although, I still don't why Lego Mindstorm & power functions cost is so high and why on the NXT Intelligent Brick has barely any memory, and why Lego decided PF to use RC IR control rather then RC RF for remote control. I'm sure I can easily rig it for radio frequency. If anyone is interested in talking about the subject maybe I'll still make the topic. lol I know I talk too much  

[Peppermint_M]

I recycle all of my boxes. Shortly after I finish the set I take out my craft knife (or a stanley for the larger boxes) and slice the key points so I can fold it flat. Then when the months food boxes go to the recycling point, or we go to IKEA I take the boxes along.

As for sprues, the gold sprues go into the "treasure" box as medals, scarabs or whatever fits in theme. The larger tool sprues go in my "greebles" box that I put all random plastic, ready for whatever use I see for them in the future.

It's not hard to recycle if you spend a few minutes extra when throwing things out.

[VBBN]

I'm nota huge fan of going green, so I honestly don't care(sorry to anyone else), but if it decreased prices, I'm all for it.

Sprues are another matter, be thankful they aren't like your average gundam sprue!

[Tinn-man]

On the subject of eco-friendlieness, does anybody here know anything about this?

EDIT:  Link Removed.

Edited by Tinn-man, 12 December 2009 - 09:20 PM.

[Rick]

TLG apparently asked not to make this information public (it was from an invitation-only questionnaire). A previous topic on this issue was removed.