LEGO Replay trialled in the UK
Posted by CapnRex101,
LEGO Replay was launched gradually in North America between 2019 and 2021, accepting donations of bricks to clean and redistribute. Now the trial has expanded to the UK and the press release follows:
The LEGO Group unveils trial of brick take-back service LEGO Replay in the UK
We are piloting our brick take-back service LEGO Replay in the UK and inviting fans to join us as we test how to bring playful learning to more children, and stop LEGO bricks becoming waste.
The good news is that most people in the UK already have a plan for any LEGO bricks they no longer need: 94% of families who’ve decided to pass them on do so to friends, family, charities or local schools, or they sell them* – helping to ensure LEGO bricks are played with again and again.
For anyone that doesn’t know what to do with their unused LEGO bricks, LEGO Replay provides an easy option for ensuring those bricks continue to inspire play and creativity for children.
The new pilot programme will test new uses for the bricks donated by families and fans in the UK. During this exploratory phase, the returned used bricks will be recycled into new items that support learning in schools, such as storage boxes for toys.
Working with charity partners such as In Kind Direct we will fill every new box with LEGO bricks before they are distributed to schools and community centres around the UK to help inspire play and creativity.
Our VP of Environmental Sustainability, Tim Brooks, said; “We’re really proud that so many of our fans in the UK already pass the joy of LEGO play to others. Our bricks are designed to be durable and safe enough to be handed down from generation to generation to inspire endless play and creativity for many years.
“Piloting LEGO Replay in the UK is an important step on our journey to becoming more circular. We want to rehome, repurpose or recycle every LEGO brick to keep them in play for longer. We hope LEGO Replay will help even more people donate their LEGO bricks with ease, and feel proud they are supporting playful learning for children across the country.”
It’s really simple to get involved and help us trial the scheme. Simply pack up any unused bricks in any box, print out a freepost label from LEGO.com/Replay-UK and ship them from any DPD Drop Shop across England, Scotland and Wales. A freepost service for our fans in Northern Ireland will be available soon.
We’re looking forward to receiving live feedback from our fans about how they like to donate, and testing new ways to provide play and learning opportunities for children by repurposing our products.
Building a More Sustainable Future
LEGO Replay launched in the U.S. in 2019 and expanded to Canada in 2021. So far, over 230 million LEGO bricks have been donated by North American families, giving 300,000 children-in-need playful learning opportunities and preventing LEGO bricks from going to waste.
The UK LEGO Replay trial is one part of our broader circular strategy - including a number of test and learn programmes – with the ambition to advance circular capabilities and concepts. We’ve recently committed to triple spending on sustainability over four years to $1.4 billion. Initiatives include:
- Sustainable and circular material innovation - we’re aiming to make our products and packaging from more sustainable and circular materials by 2032. This includes removing all single-use plastic from our packaging. The rollout of new paper-based bags started in Europe and Asia last year.
- Transition to zero impact operations - reducing our absolute carbon emissions by 37% by 2032 as part of our approved Science Based Target, with the long-term goal of becoming net zero by 2050.
- Inspiring and developing the builders of tomorrow - continuing to provide more children globally with opportunities to develop critical life-long skills through play.
* 94% of UK LEGO brick owners who've decided to part with their bricks give them to family, friends charities or local schools and playgroups, or sell them. Research conducted in 2021 among 1,030 UK LEGO owners.
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37 comments on this article
I think this is the better way to go than experiment with different recyclable plastics. I'd prefer them to make the current bricks stronger, since they seem to have worse durability and coloring than 90s ones I have.
Always better to reuse what has been already made rather than scrap it and sell new pseudo eco friendly alternatives to boost profits.
Does anyone know if LEGO takes broken bricks for recycling into new bricks? I have a handful of broken pieces (read: reddish brown) that I am holding onto in case they do.
« the returned used bricks will be recycled into new items that support learning in schools, such as storage boxes for toys. »
So these old and good quality bricks will be destroyed anyway to give new and bad quality plastic bricks in quality toyboxes. Well done, Lego!
Thinking about all the classic bricks that will be destroyed by Lego themselves…
@evvdu95 said:
"« the returned used bricks will be recycled into new items that support learning in schools, such as storage boxes for toys. »
So these old and good quality bricks will be destroyed anyway to give new and bad quality plastic bricks in quality toyboxes. Well done, Lego!
Thinking about all the classic bricks that will be destroyed by Lego themselves…"
I guess you didn’t read the next paragraph…
@Librarian1976 said:
"Does anyone know if LEGO takes broken bricks for recycling into new bricks? I have a handful of broken pieces (read: reddish brown) that I am holding onto in case they do."
When I worked in thermoforming, if we didn’t dry our ABS prior to putting a sheet into the oven, the temperature needed to make the plastic malleable enough to mold was well above boiling temp. Steam expands 1000x the size of liquid water, and ABS is hygroscopic (means it absorbs moisture), so any moisture content left in the sheet would instantly honeycomb the sheet when it reached the glass transition temp. The result would be parts that were brittle enough to snap with your bare hands. It’s possible that we could have sent this back as regrind, but my boss wasn’t willing to take that chance (we made guards for chain and belt drives, so brittle parts would be a _HUGE_ problem). All affected parts went in the garbage, and all unused shots went back in the drybox to be run a different day.
Now, that’s just over trace moisture content, which can still be baked out of the plastic at any point. Brittle Brown is some sort of degradation of the plastic that happens over time. It likely involves some sort of chemical change, and that’s not something you can simply undo. I suspect that any of these brittle parts would just need to be scrapped. That doesn’t mean _you_ need to take the hit. You can always contact customer service and see what they might be able to do about replacing them.
Sorry Lego bricks we no longer need ? Not familiar with the concept :-) I can't let them go.
Excellent news!
And good timing too!
I am soon buying a friends collection which I planned to sort, keep some interesting bits, and donate the rest. This makes that a lot easier
"Not currently accepted - fully or partially built sets"
OK that puts a dampener on my plans to sort in to sets...
I guess I can disassemble them before donating though.
"During this exploratory phase, the returned used bricks will be recycled into new items that support learning in schools, such as storage boxes for toys."
I don't often complain about Lego stuff, but this seems a little odd. There are so many little bits of plastic in the world and Lego parts are some of the only ones which are actually appreciated and hold value; financial, sentimental, or otherwise. Something like storage boxes seems a lot more likely to ultimately be thrown away or discarded than old Lego parts.
@MonsterFighter said:
" @evvdu95 said:
"« the returned used bricks will be recycled into new items that support learning in schools, such as storage boxes for toys. »
So these old and good quality bricks will be destroyed anyway to give new and bad quality plastic bricks in quality toyboxes. Well done, Lego!
Thinking about all the classic bricks that will be destroyed by Lego themselves…"
I guess you didn’t read the next paragraph…
"
I read the entire article and I still don't understand the concept. Do they recycle the donated bricks into new items like storage boxes, or do they clean them and reuse them? To me the article doesn't make that clear.
Then again, I don't care anyway. For a start I don't live in the UK, and secondly I would never give my used bricks back to LEGO. They make billions of profit, they can donate new bricks themselves, thank you very much.
If I chose to give sets away I would give them to our local charities in our community.
@jedisquidwardagain said:
""During this exploratory phase, the returned used bricks will be recycled into new items that support learning in schools, such as storage boxes for toys."
I don't often complain about Lego stuff, but this seems a little odd. There are so many little bits of plastic in the world and Lego parts are some of the only ones which are actually appreciated and hold value; financial, sentimental, or otherwise. Something like storage boxes seems a lot more likely to ultimately be thrown away or discarded than old Lego parts."
Yes, reading through it all I am also confused.
I would be more likely to donate if the bricks are actually going to be reused for kids to get the joy of building LEGO, rather than melted down in to something else.
Might email them and ask for clarification.
To me, this sounds like something that sounds like typical corporate "sustainability" BS. Looks good to investors; and makes their "ESG" goals look good; but effectively, it does nothing and just sounds confusing when you read it in detail.
Few people who would, normally, just toss Lego would go to the effort to send it in; and only a complete idiot would fail to realize that even selling incomplete sets can be pretty profitable.
The only LEGO I've gotten rid of is busted bits (aside from those I've used to achieve "illegal" building techniques) and a massive number of dry-rotted/broken rubber bands. Even the knockoff stuff has had use--needed better variety in the overpass "pilings" for Tyco slot car track, and period-correct Tyco parts were pricey. Thus, I just ended up building them from the box of MEGA and Best-Lock that I culled from my regular LEGO.
Across multiple articles I joked that LEGO spent so much time worrying about boxes and bags and instructions and PAB cups with plastic waste that they were neglecting the largest source of plastic they produce.
Really curious to see how this turns out, I give it a year before no meaningful results are reported and it gets shuttered.
I am concerned about the conflict-of-interest in this. I would be happier if TLG setup a separate non-profit that could handle the filtering and cleaning. It could even be self-funding with some limited Bricklink sales.
With set inflation, the number of bricks that children from the 70s, 80s or 90s had vs. the number that they might have today has gone up substantially as has the diversity of designs and colors. I see the design count growth tapering off somewhat, and color count has already undergone a revision, both for sustainability reasons. I also see set size growth tapering off or even contracting under economic pressure.
Having a large - and increasing - influx of used product on the market creates a downforce on new product sales, and having that in the hands of the product manufacturer seems like the wrong business structure for this venture to succeed in the long-term.
@cody6268 said:
" only a complete idiot would fail to realize that even selling incomplete sets can be pretty profitable.
"
For some people it isn't about that.
Yes, selling it would be more profitable. But I would rather my old sets that I got enjoyment out of as a child but no longer have use/space for, goes to a kid who will get equal or even more enjoyment out of it (especiallyif they aren't lucky enough to be able to afford LEGO),
Rather than it ending up sat in some other collectors dust vault which is likely if sold at a high price.
It's not about the money, it's about generosity and passing on the enjoyment.
As a life long collector i have never thought about donating or recycling my sets. If anything, I just part it out and build other things. If i run out of space for Lego I just box it up and put it in storage until I either want to build it again in exchange for another set, or I move and have more display space.
All this recycle and donate stuff from Lego is good and all, but I rather personally hand off my Lego to someone who I know will appreciate and use my collection for years to come. Not destroy or break apart the sets for resale.
@cody6268 said:
"To me, this sounds like something that sounds like typical corporate "sustainability" BS. Looks good to investors; and makes their "ESG" goals look good; but effectively, it does nothing and just sounds confusing when you read it in detail.
Few people who would, normally, just toss Lego would go to the effort to send it in; and only a complete idiot would fail to realize that even selling incomplete sets can be pretty profitable.
The only LEGO I've gotten rid of is busted bits (aside from those I've used to achieve "illegal" building techniques) and a massive number of dry-rotted/broken rubber bands. Even the knockoff stuff has had use--needed better variety in the overpass "pilings" for Tyco slot car track, and period-correct Tyco parts were pricey. Thus, I just ended up building them from the box of MEGA and Best-Lock that I culled from my regular LEGO. "
I am a purist and don’t (knowingly) use counterfeit bricks. I often get sprinklings of Megablocks, Tyco, Lepin, Kreo, etc. when I buy used bulk. I separate it out and keep it in a box under my building table. I wonder if LEGO would take these.
This is good because I have a load of 1x1 studs I have no use for.
I don't know if they are going to reuse the bricks or melt them down and turn them into bottles and boxes.
Edit: I've read the website and it's clearer but doesn't make sense: they'll melt the donated bricks down and turn them into boxes, to fill with bricks for schools. Are the bricks the donated or new ones?
@AustinPowers said:
" @MonsterFighter said:
" @evvdu95 said:
"« the returned used bricks will be recycled into new items that support learning in schools, such as storage boxes for toys. »
So these old and good quality bricks will be destroyed anyway to give new and bad quality plastic bricks in quality toyboxes. Well done, Lego!
Thinking about all the classic bricks that will be destroyed by Lego themselves…"
I guess you didn’t read the next paragraph…
"
I read the entire article and I still don't understand the concept. Do they recycle the donated bricks into new items like storage boxes, or do they clean them and reuse them? To me the article doesn't make that clear.
Then again, I don't care anyway. For a start I don't live in the UK, and secondly I would never give my used bricks back to LEGO. They make billions of profit, they can donate new bricks themselves, thank you very much.
If I chose to give sets away I would give them to our local charities in our community. "
The way I read it is that they recycle (not reuse) anything returned to them into boxes and then fill the boxes with new lego parts that get distributed by their charity partners. I cannot see them distributing returned lego, as there will be non-lego and broken items. Sorting it will be more expensive than making new. Whereas the broken and junk parts will be ground down and reformulated into lower quality plastic, suitable for storage boxes but not good enough for bricks. Small amounts of the wrong plastics from other toys won't matter.
I’d love a recycling program!
But Ill gladly swap my new reddish-brown for any stronger bricks.
Hmm, if I were a superlarge corporation in need of some green virtue points that makes an expensive and highly durable product that nobody ever throws away, what would I do?
I bet I would come up with a program in which I would very, very altruistically offer a 100% free return program in which I take in large volumes of that expensive, durable product, grind it up into powder, melt it down, and reform it into some kind of junk nobody really needs and will probably wind up in the landfill when it quickly breaks.
Then I would put out a press release announcing how very Green all of this is. The press release would have lots of Virtuous-sounding language like "sustainability" and "zero-impact," but it would conveniently omit any mention of the carbon impact of this very, very altruistic program, because obviously I wouldn't be collecting that data.
Oooo, but I know how I could make it even better! I could send the re-formed junk back out with a bunch of brand-NEW product in it, as a "charitable donation" to children in need, who will get to play with the product, but not actually own it. Then the darling little kiddies will go home, and ask mommy and daddy for some of their very own to play with, and mommy and daddy will happily drive to the store and oblige. It's very fortunate that mommy and daddy won't be driving to the used reseller or getting it from cousin Freddy, because Freddy's mommy and daddy have donated it to the free product recycling program. You see, Freddy's mommy and daddy did not want to think of themselves as planet-hating monsters, and they heard that it was Virtuous to send their product to the take-back program.
Yes, if I were a superlarge corporation in need of green virtue points, this is exactly what I'd do!
Really TLG! Are there people who don’t know what to do with lego bricks no longer in use? They have no idea how to give them away, but they will then look to lego for help on how to get rid of them? : D btw if TLG REALLY worried about these things they wouldn’t make the brick quality worse. I never broke a brick in my childhood in the 70’s and 80’s yet now with the new ones it happens pretty often.
@AllenSmith: I couldn't have said it better.
You put into words what I was thinking about this all along.
They need put link on boxes recycle "here".
Recycle don't throw away..All items.. Bricks go here "___" info
like with cans bottles example a recycle symbol.
also label free other countries send them.
Today I got 42036 -technic buggy dumped in its box with instructions - only front end is built. Also a blue ninjago dragon. I won't be buying any this year despite wanting the city racing sets
So there actually *is* something up with that brown color? I thought it was just me. It made me think those couple sets it happened in were knock-offs I happened to get somehow. Huh!
@Lego34s said:
"Sorry Lego bricks we no longer need ? Not familiar with the concept :-) I can't let them go."
Everyone, if you’re absolutely desperate to get that My Dad out of your home for good, I just found where you can send them!
@TeraMedia:
I have exactly the same amount of LEGO parts that I did during the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. And that amount is not enough. Not nearly enough.
@emQ:
No, they screwed something up, probably when they went to in-line coloring, and reddish-brown, dark-brown, and dark-red (for sure), plus possibly a few other colors, tend to turn to splintery dust if you look at them wrong once they turn around ten years old. They’ve said they figured out what caused the problem, and how to fix the problem, and then waited to announce any of this until they were sure the fix worked. Based on the timing of the announcement, I won’t buy any of those colors except in sealed sets from 2018 or later, direct from Pick-A-Brick (either online or in store), or through the LUGBulk program. Nothing from Bricklink, eBay, or other sources of indeterminate manufacture dates. I think @AustinPowers was able to confirm that parts made pre-2013 are safe, and obviously old-brown is not affected.
Who gets rid of Lego? I just get a bigger house!
@Lego34s said:
"Sorry Lego bricks we no longer need ? Not familiar with the concept :-) I can't let them go."
Am I my own charity to myself?!
Pretty self-centered, I suppose.
I use this program for all of the left over bricks/SW sets when buying lots - it's easy, good cause and helps with de-cluttering your collation.
@StyleCounselor said:
" @Lego34s said:
"Sorry Lego bricks we no longer need ? Not familiar with the concept :-) I can't let them go."
Am I my own charity to myself?!
Pretty self-centered, I suppose. "
Sure is! You should consider donating to the Purple Dave Is Poor And Needs Money Fund instead.
The usual suspects desperately trying to turn something clearly positive into a negative. Sad but predictable.
What's with the cynicism? This is actually a good initiative. I have two bins filled with scuffed bricks, plates and windows from my childhood (some inherited from my brothers) and I wouldn't mind being able to part with them in a more or less sustainable way.
@StyleCounselor said:
" @Lego34s said:
"Sorry Lego bricks we no longer need ? Not familiar with the concept :-) I can't let them go."
Am I my own charity to myself?!"
"I'm a mog: half man, half dog. I'm my own best friend!"
@AustinPowers said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
" @Lego34s said:
"Sorry Lego bricks we no longer need ? Not familiar with the concept :-) I can't let them go."
Am I my own charity to myself?!"
"I'm a mog: half man, half dog. I'm my own best friend!""
Barfolomew.
@sjr60 said:
"The usual suspects desperately trying to turn something clearly positive into a negative. Sad but predictable."
Keyser Söze?
This seems to make very little sense apart from the intellectual satisfaction of storing Lego in boxes made from former Lego. Even the “green” aspect takes a backseat to this. Otherwise, why use such a specifically expensive, sought-after, and durable source of ABS as used elements just to recycle into storage containers??