Paper bags to replace plastic ones inside sets starting in 2022

Yay!

Just sell them without pbox for whoever buys them in Lego shop! This would ALREADY help.
I just hope they are using hemp based paper and not tree based ones.

That’s funny, I just noticed yesterday on JediJacPenguin that all the baseplates were being re-released in 2022. I hadn’t bothered to check if the set numbers were new. I figured I would see later what that was all about - and I guess now I know why!

Looking forward to the paper bags. Hate the noise of the current plastic ones.

"or perhaps a local retailer reporting that they are no longer able to order certain products" . Ive been unable to order around 70% of what I should be able to for the last 6 months or so now for my store. I would love to know what their excuse is for this

Agree it's a bummer we won't get to see the parts in the bags before opening them anymore.

@bookmum said:
"I hope they stop the pointless little bit of sellotape on the character sheet with the CMFs. "
It's a neat way to keep the sheet nice and flat, and less likely to be ruined while still in the packaging, especially if the blind bag ends up getting handled to feel out specific minifigs.

@omnium said:
" @maaboo35 said:
"So the current plastic bags aren't recyclable?"

The good news is The Co-Op has a new plastic recycling scheme in some stores that will accept them."

Heh, my local Co-Op is going to get buried under my loft-full of Lego bags then. I've mostly been stuffing mine back into the boxes and chucking them up in the eaves for lack of a better option.

I like this.

I'm actually encouraged that they specified that the paper bags were "designed to replace single-use plastic in boxes," which seems to exclude the plastic used in polybags and foil packets. Now, I don't mind if regular polybag sets go back to cardboard (many small sets from 30 years ago that would be polybags today still came in boxes, or had boxed and bagged versions, 1711, e.g.) but maybe this is a hint that TLG realizes that the ability to discern CMFs by feel is an important part of that product. Perhaps they are looking for a flexible material that is recyclable but still tough enough to protect the contents. I'm not a completionist, so if I can't tell the one or two per series I would want, I won't buy any in-store, and the added cost means I'll buy fewer on the secondary identified market. If TLG can get recyclable CMF packaging while still allowing skilled individuals to discern target minifigs, it would be a win for all concerned.

I'm going to throw away so many more pieces accidentally. Half the time I have to dig the bag out of the trash and discover a missing piece inside and that is with a transparent bag

@lusci said:
"With the planned price increases it is the MINIMUM the LEGO® Group can do!"

What?? How have I not heard about this? Can you elaborate?

@sbpyrat:

I'd think that the paper would have a bit more friction, which would reduce the amount of piece shifting.

On identification, I can definitely agree that I like looking at one bag from a random set and trying to determine which set it belongs to, it's like a little puzzle. It'll definitely be interesting to see if the bags will get printed with the set number, or the pieces contained inside, or even a picture of that section of the build. Not sure to what extent printing affects recycling capabilities, but a bit of color would definitely be welcome. I can live with plain, off-white bags but there's no reason not to give them a bit more flair

I think this is a positive move. Like most corporate environmental-sustainability moves, it is limited in how much benefit it will produce - but I believe it is still a positive step. Plastic bags are not recyclable in all parts of the world, or even all parts of individual countries that have recycling for other kinds of plastic. Paper is much more widely recyclable and has at least the potential to be petroleum-free in its production.

As for the size of the outer boxes, I'm kind of shocked that Lego is making some of them so large, since its own costs would be reduced if the boxes were smaller (materials, weight, shipping/packing efficiency, etc), even leaving aside the environmental benefits.

But the core issue is what we are all active participants in a hobby that is based on petroleum-plastic pieces - and more recently on using fossil fuels to ship and transport those pieces all over the world. So none of us really has a leg to stand on when it comes to criticizing Lego in this regard (though of course we should also keep pushing them and supporting their attempts to reduce their environmental impact),

https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/46802/certification-schemes-such-as-fsc-are-greenwashing-forest-destruction/

Is this going to benefit me in any way? If not, why bother?

in germany all plastic bags are recycable as long as they are clean. unwashed yoghurt cups for instance will be sorted out to "difficult to recycle" others to "nonrecycable waste" depends on what it is.

i am worried that paper bags will cause the destruction of more rainforest!

recycable bricks which the lego group makes out of our broken parts. that would be a real change!

@fakespacesquid said:
"I'm all about the shift to plastic! When running my virtual drafts, it's pretty astounding the amount of plastic bags you can end up with that can't really be used again. One thing we'll definitely have to be careful of is getting pieces stuck in there, currently it's easy to dump out a bag and see the last piece stuck in the corner but it'll have to be more of a habit when you can't see through the bags.

And I hadn't even thought about @TeraMedia 's printing idea! Each bag could have its contents printed, like Creator sets used(?) to have on the top of the box

Also great to know that the doomsdaying about baseplates was all for naught. I don't think the Afol community has seen a conclusion that they don't want to jump to"
If you're talking about the 2000s Creator (before Bricks and More), yes, those sets displayed the contents on the box or bucket. Designer Sets never did, and I haven't seen a Creator 3-in-1 set that did either — but perhaps the early sets did, which I wasn't around for. Oddly, Creator Expert sets did, despite containing absolutely nothing else in the box or instructions to encourage creative building to justify the Creator branding.

@LegoSonicBoy said:
" @fakespacesquid said:
"I'm all about the shift to plastic! When running my virtual drafts, it's pretty astounding the amount of plastic bags you can end up with that can't really be used again. One thing we'll definitely have to be careful of is getting pieces stuck in there, currently it's easy to dump out a bag and see the last piece stuck in the corner but it'll have to be more of a habit when you can't see through the bags.

And I hadn't even thought about @TeraMedia 's printing idea! Each bag could have its contents printed, like Creator sets used(?) to have on the top of the box

Also great to know that the doomsdaying about baseplates was all for naught. I don't think the Afol community has seen a conclusion that they don't want to jump to"
If you're talking about the 2000s Creator (before Bricks and More), yes, those sets displayed the contents on the box or bucket. Designer Sets never did, and I haven't seen a Creator 3-in-1 set that did either — but perhaps the early sets did, which I wasn't around for. Oddly, Creator Expert sets did, despite containing absolutely nothing else in the box or instructions to encourage creative building to justify the Creator branding."

Looks like almost every 3-in-1 from 2010 had the parts listed on the top of the box (check out the third photo in https://brickset.com/sets/5891-1/Apple-Tree-House ). Haven't checked other years but I know that year had them

Edit: Looks like they were widespread through 2015, but I don't see them on sets in or after 2016

Edit Edit: They were also on the boxes of the first actual 3-in-1s in 2006, so they had 10 years of being on any box that wasn't a canister

@Clutch_P said:
" @lusci said:
"With the planned price increases it is the MINIMUM the LEGO® Group can do!"

What?? How have I not heard about this? Can you elaborate?"

Posted here a week ago. LEGO is adjusting prices of certain sets across European countries to make them more even.

https://brickset.com/article/64790/lego-confirms-price-adjustments-in-western-europe-

@CathyVT said:
" @Patrik78 said:
"Keeping the plastic bags (which are recyclable anyway) and reducing box size not to transport more than half of the volume as air over the whole world… that would convince me they really mean it. This is just "meh" :("

At least where I live (Vermont, USA), those plastic bags are not recyclable. Some plastic bags can be taken to the grocery store where they have bins for plastic grocery bags and plastic film, but I'm told they only accept 2 and 4 plastic, and the Lego bags are 5. And even if you could take them to the bins at the grocery store, how many people collect and return plastic bags? I do, but I doubt many people do."

Where I am (Derby, England), the big numbered bags are recyclable but the small bags with pins, accessories and small pieces are not recyclable.

@fakespacesquid: Wonder why they removed it from 3-in-1 of all things.

@lordofdragonss:
Years ago, I heard Georgia Pacific bred a fast-growth line specifically for generation of wood pulp for their paper mills. In the US, it’s either law or common practice to selectively harvest trees, rather than clear-cutting, and also to reseed as you go. Lumber in the US is far more sustainable than what it was like during the settlement of Europe.

The push for hemp, on the other hand, was never really about sustainable use of the land, but more about using hemp to push for legalization of marijuana. That’s effectively here in the US, so now the ugly truth is coming out. Marijuana uses ridiculous amounts of water to grow. Being a closely related plant, I have a hard time believing hemp uses a significantly lower amount.

@Patrik78:
A plastic product can be capable of being recycled, but that doesn’t mean you can find anyone equipped, or willing, to do so.

@TeraMedia:
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bought a set for parts, and figured out where to get the part(s) I urgently need by looking through the bag material. I also can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a tiny part get stuck in a bag, only to quickly locate it by looking for the bag where I can see a part through the bag material.

@WesterBricks:
I don’t know about that, but I do know that for many years the box was always big enough to show the main build in 1:1 scale, which is important when parents judge value of a LEGO set strictly on the size of the completed model. This is why they were able to reduce box thickness by about 1/3, but quickly abandoned the idea of shrinking the other two dimensions.

My local council recycles PET plastic bags but the Lego ones are PP plastic therefore I can't recycle them so I welcome the change to paper. And I flatten the bags anyway to make sure they are empty already so these shall not be any different.

Bring back road plates! I want more baseplates with roads!

@maaboo35 said:
"So the current plastic bags aren't recyclable?"

Able to be recycled? Maybe. Actually recycled? Almost certainly not. Most plastic doesn't get recycled, because recycling plastic is pretty much just a scam invented by Dupont and other manufacturers to hide how terrible single use plastic is for the environment.

Finally. Enough of throwing away half the sets weight in plastic.

@tmtomh said:
"
But the core issue is what we are all active participants in a hobby that is based on petroleum-plastic pieces - and more recently on using fossil fuels to ship and transport those pieces all over the world. So none of us really has a leg to stand on when it comes to criticizing Lego in this regard (though of course we should also keep pushing them and supporting their attempts to reduce their environmental impact),"
I agree with what you wrote except the last paragraph: that isn’t such a problem since you don’t burn your lego bricks. You just transform (well LEGO does) crude oil from one form into another and not into the atmosphere as CO2. Is still stays as an inert form and most bricks will stay as such for generations if you look at the secondary market. Unlike the plastic bags where the situation is different…

@Oli said:
"in germany all plastic bags are recycable as long as they are clean. unwashed yoghurt cups for instance will be sorted out to "difficult to recycle" others to "nonrecycable waste" depends on what it is.

i am worried that paper bags will cause the destruction of more rainforest! "

The fact that it is collected in separate bins doesn’t mean it’s gonna be recycled. If it’s clean enough it will be put with other plastics and sold to someone. Yet this will probably not be in Germany or even Europe and it may still be burnt. With paper it’s different: the recycling process is much more established (but not necessarily clean as it consumes vast amounts of water and energy). But even if it is burnt it will be carbon neutral as it will release the CO2 that the tree captured while growing. Contrary to the oil which plastic bags are made of.

And I am pretty confident that LEGO will assure that the source of its paper is PEFC or something equivalent. Anything else would be a PR disaster for the group.

@monkyby87 said:
" @Slithus_Venom said:
"Is this going to benefit me in any way? If not, why bother?"

That’s an awfully ignorant response. "

Please let him/her just be a troll. It’s not only awfully ignorant but extremely selfish.

I'm all for it, as a first step it's great. I do agree with other regarding box sizes, but I think it's part of the psychological effect about having a bigger box for the more expensive sets.

I do wonder what will they do with the polybags mini-sets. I LOVE these, and hope they won't end the line. Hopefully they will make it work somehow, or keep plastic bags just for these.

As LEGO is a family-owned company and doesn't need to please greedy stockholders it is alarming that it earns so well. I predict that one day in a not so distant future (12...15 years) the family realises they have accumulated more than enough money and for environmental reasons will end production for good. While there won't be any more consumer products, some production capability will remain for the parks' and LEGO house' maintenance needs and keeping patents.

@Clutch_P said:
" @lusci said:
"With the planned price increases it is the MINIMUM the LEGO® Group can do!"

What?? How have I not heard about this? Can you elaborate?"

It's happening in EU based countries to make a more consistent pricing across Europe, primarily the German market is where the prices are shifting (more so not in their favor).

Well this move is going to make visual verification of opened sets for resell with the bags still sealed almost impossible to trust what you'll actually be getting.

These paper bags aren't likely to hold up as well as plastic when an exposed set box becomes water-damaged. Higher risk of mold and mildew contamination of the bricks. These bags won't be viable after such an event and the bricks would just be transferred to plastic zip-loc bags by the unfortunate owner if trying to salvage the set immediately after. I guess it's possible these new bags are waxed/coated in some way, but without additional contamination how feasibly recyclable would they really be?

*Edit*: hmm, if the QR code get's printed on every bag and is there for identifying set and parts included in that bag, then that helps ensure what you'd be buying IF you happen to have a smart phone with camera to scan the code - still rather rely on my own eyes to verify what I'm buying second-hand.

@CCC said:
" @darkstonegrey said:
"Well this move is going to make visual verification of opened sets for resell with the bags still sealed almost impossible to trust what you'll actually be getting.

These paper bags aren't likely to hold up as well as plastic when an exposed set box becomes water-damaged. Higher risk of mold and mildew contamination of the bricks. These bags won't be viable after such an event and the bricks would just be transferred to plastic zip-loc bags by the unfortunate owner if trying to salvage the set immediately after. I guess it's possible these new bags are waxed/coated in some way, but without additional contamination how feasibly recyclable would they really be?"

Why would they care about the resale market for opened box but still new sets? That market is tiny compared to their primary market."

It's not about TLG caring about the resale market, it's about what we as the end-consumer care about when availing ourselves to various methods for acquiring sets. I do this regularly when looking for parts to expand/enlarge/enclose a particular set design.

@darkstonegrey said:
"Well this move is going to make visual verification of opened sets for resell with the bags still sealed almost impossible to trust what you'll actually be getting.

These paper bags aren't likely to hold up as well as plastic when an exposed set box becomes water-damaged. Higher risk of mold and mildew contamination of the bricks. These bags won't be viable after such an event and the bricks would just be transferred to plastic zip-loc bags by the unfortunate owner if trying to salvage the set immediately after. I guess it's possible these new bags are waxed/coated in some way, but without additional contamination how feasibly recyclable would they really be?

*Edit*: hmm, if the QR code get's printed on every bag and is there for identifying set and parts included in that bag, then that helps ensure what you'd be buying IF you happen to have a smart phone with camera to scan the code - still rather rely on my own eyes to verify what I'm buying second-hand."

So you're suggesting someone would swap the bags out with bags from another set? Seems like a weird, super-specific scheme with not a huge profit margin.

I'd also imagine they didn't really factor in flooding. Currently the box and instructions will be unusable so it's not like losing the bags is a real achilles heel. I think the advice would be "build your sets before you get flooded"

@fakespacesquid said:
" @darkstonegrey said:
"Well this move is going to make visual verification of opened sets for resell with the bags still sealed almost impossible to trust what you'll actually be getting.

These paper bags aren't likely to hold up as well as plastic when an exposed set box becomes water-damaged. Higher risk of mold and mildew contamination of the bricks. These bags won't be viable after such an event and the bricks would just be transferred to plastic zip-loc bags by the unfortunate owner if trying to salvage the set immediately after. I guess it's possible these new bags are waxed/coated in some way, but without additional contamination how feasibly recyclable would they really be?

*Edit*: hmm, if the QR code get's printed on every bag and is there for identifying set and parts included in that bag, then that helps ensure what you'd be buying IF you happen to have a smart phone with camera to scan the code - still rather rely on my own eyes to verify what I'm buying second-hand."

So you're suggesting someone would swap the bags out with bags from another set? Seems like a weird, super-specific scheme with not a huge profit margin.

I'd also imagine they didn't really factor in flooding. Currently the box and instructions will be unusable so it's not like losing the bags is a real achilles heel. I think the advice would be "build your sets before you get flooded""

It's possible sellers might forget what set the bags are from and are not intending to 'scheme' anything, just that they honestly mistaken what set the bags belong to, which a savvy buyer can easily visually verify with the current plastic bags provided the seller posts adequate photos.

I for one have a lot of sets waiting to build and too little room to build everything immediately so have to wait months (sometimes years) to build them. I'm humble enough to know there are likely others located in flood-prone regions and in my same build/storage situation that haven't the luxury to always follow your idealistic advice to "build your sets before you get flooded".

@fakespacesquid said:
" [...] One thing we'll definitely have to be careful of is getting pieces stuck in there, currently it's easy to dump out a bag and see the last piece stuck in the corner but it'll have to be more of a habit when you can't see through the bags. [...] "

I'll stick with the same solution as ever, not throwing the bags away before I'm done building (because I'm too lazy and too occupied with the build to do that anyway), and trying to remember to squish them flat against the table to feel any remaining parts.

Although it would be interesting to know if Lego's customer service will see a slight uptick in "missing parts" due to this change.

I want to know if the bags will get busted and ripped apart from shipping. So instead of having pieces by step, they’re in a jumbled mess loose in the box. And will there be missing pieces because they fell out the cracks of the box. I wonder if that’s why all the recent sets have dumb glued boxes.

I still thought it would be better to make the bags resealable. I buy plastic baggies to store them in when taken apart.

Gotta say I don't like this move. In my LEGO building process, there is one distinct stage that comes between break-opening the sealed box and having all the loose pieces out and ready to build, which was getting the still-sealed bags arranged up and visually and excitedly inspecting the shiny new pieces in anticipation of the upcoming building action. That middle stage will be no more.

@PixelTheDragon :
I bought five copies of Weathertop on clearance, and discovered that someone had clearly bought one copy, gotten inside the box without cutting the original tape seals, taken Bag 1 (2x Ringwraiths and their red-eyed horses), and opened any other bag to remove minifig parts and accessories. Then they sealed it back up and returned it for a refund. The reason I bought five extra copies was to get nine (+1) Ringwraiths, so I called customer service and was able to get most of the missing parts replaced. The other four copies were fine, so anything I was still missing wasn’t terribly important.

@sbpyrat :
They’ve been doing QR codes on the plastic bags for at least a few years now, as it started long enough pre-pandemic that I can’t remember when I noticed anymore. On closer examination, I’m not sure how useful these will be.

@fakespacesquid :
Paper is slightly abrasive, being generally made from wood fibers. I’m not sure about rice paper, but I think that stuff is water-soluble. What a sticky mess that would be if it got wet...

@brimbolet :
I saw something recently where they showed a plastic grocery bag that had huge print on it identifying it as being a green bag that’s biodegradable. Then they point out that the fine print says within so many hundred years, 48% will decompose, and the person explaining this claimed the other 52% isn’t biodegradable at all. Paper mills certainly are known for being major sources of pollution (doesn’t help that they use acid as a main ingredient in the process), but paper is definitely biodegradable, which is always going to be a major selling point. If trees can be sustainably sourced, that eliminates another pain point.

On the other hand, as long as even one petroleum product remains a necessity, all the other current products will become the new byproducts. Back when all you other people were 2020 shut-ins, there weren’t many of us left who were using gas to drive. Fuel oil, on the other hand, is the only affordable means of heating homes in many parts of the US, and that means they had to keep refining oil. The unexpected consequence was they ended up with enough of a surplus of gasoline that they were running out of places to store it. I think the refineries were even forced to pay people to haul it away because they couldn’t just dump it down the drain.

@Oli :
1. Wood pulp isn’t worth shipping around the world. Paper mills are located where the supply of raw materials is, and ideally as close to the main source of customers as possible.
2. Nobody that I’ve ever heard of clearcuts tropical hardwoods to make paper. You can’t hide a paper mill, and it’s far more valuable as lumber.

@darkstonegrey:
10768 bag 1
Large code: 6172089
Stripe code: 238R9
Bag 2
Large code: 6172089
Stripe code: 438R9
Bag 3
Large code: 6172089
Stripe code: 338R9

10767 bag 1
Large code: 6172089
Stripe code: 532R9
Bag 2
Large code: 6171965
Stripe code: N/A

So, notice that on the striped bags, every bag regardless of set or bag number uses the same large QR code. I checked a few more sets, and while the code does change when there is no stripe, it’s only unique to the build order number, not the set. On the striped bags, there’s a tiny QR code right below the build order number that I can’t get my iPod to recognize, but it’s also next to a 5-digit alpha-numeric code that apparently is unique to both set and bag.

@darkstonegrey:
A lot of international buyers want sets deboxed to save on shipping. Having an identifiable code on the bag could come in handy, both for the seller (dumps everything off the table and has to sort part bags “blind” to the contents) and the buyer (make sure you got the right stuff if the seller is known to be rather clumsy).

@fakespacesquid:
Instructions are online, and many people shuck them now due to how much space they take up. Anyone who doesn’t keep the instructions probably doesn’t care about the packaging either, but I’ve only met one person who cares about the packaging instead of the bricks (she said she only collects sealed sets and doesn’t open them or build anything, which is like the most depressing thing ever).

@darkstonegrey:
It doesn’t always help anyways. Someone I know from Brickworld got flooded and ended up throwing out thousands of dollars worth of loose brick because by the time he got that far into his collection, the totes were full of black mold. Being that ABS is hygroscopic, that means it was growing inside the plastic of the LEGO bricks, too. The moral of the story is don’t live where flooding is likely.

@PurpleDave said:
" @darkstonegrey:
10768 bag 1
Large code: 6172089
Stripe code: 238R9
Bag 2
Large code: 6172089
Stripe code: 438R9
Bag 3
Large code: 6172089
Stripe code: 338R9

10767 bag 1
Large code: 6172089
Stripe code: 532R9
Bag 2
Large code: 6171965
Stripe code: N/A

So, notice that on the striped bags, every bag regardless of set or bag number uses the same large QR code. I checked a few more sets, and while the code does change when there is no stripe, it’s only unique to the build order number, not the set. On the striped bags, there’s a tiny QR code right below the build order number that I can’t get my iPod to recognize, but it’s also next to a 5-digit alpha-numeric code that apparently is unique to both set and bag.

@darkstonegrey:
A lot of international buyers want sets deboxed to save on shipping. Having an identifiable code on the bag could come in handy, both for the seller (dumps everything off the table and has to sort part bags “blind” to the contents) and the buyer (make sure you got the right stuff if the seller is known to be rather clumsy).

@fakespacesquid:
Instructions are online, and many people shuck them now due to how much space they take up. Anyone who doesn’t keep the instructions probably doesn’t care about the packaging either, but I’ve only met one person who cares about the packaging instead of the bricks (she said she only collects sealed sets and doesn’t open them or build anything, which is like the most depressing thing ever).

@darkstonegrey:
It doesn’t always help anyways. Someone I know from Brickworld got flooded and ended up throwing out thousands of dollars worth of loose brick because by the time he got that far into his collection, the totes were full of black mold. Being that ABS is hygroscopic, that means it was growing inside the plastic of the LEGO bricks, too. The moral of the story is don’t live where flooding is likely."

In relation to your knowledge of someone who ONLY collects sealed sets, I think their hobby is, as you said, depressing. I literally got depressed from reading that...

What'll be next is paper Lego bricks.

@Hawkibro123 said:
"What'll be next is paper Lego bricks."

I can't tell if this is a joke or not but that'd be kind of interesting, probably not durable enough, though. LEGO has promised to move to entirely plant-based plastic by 2030 so they are going to do something similar to that. As a vegan, the idea of "plant-based" LEGO makes me slightly enticed to start eating it... especially with the pieces representing plants, which are made from sugarcane.

In all seriousness, this is a cool move on LEGO's part, I don't do anything with the part bags other than tearing them open and throwing them away, nor do I know anyone else who does anything more with them. They might also well just make them out of paper at this point. If transparency is an issue then they can probably find a suitably translucent form of paper.

@rdk said:
"Ok, it is always better to cut down trees than use a bit of oil, right?

Last time I checked paper bags were less environmentally friendly than plastic bags - you have to use more water and energy to produce them."

Certainly paper is problematic. Yes, it comes from trees, but they could use recycled paper and I hope they would given this decision is about being environmentally friendly.

There is also the issue of pollution as there is no question about the production of paper being a very dirty process.

However, ideally this paper will get recycled hundreds of times, meaning much fewer trees get cut down. In the event it gets tossed, it is biodegradable and won’t have any harmful impact on the earth.

Nothings perfect, but the benefits of paper do seem to outweigh the drawbacks.

There is of course the issue of box size. Smaller boxes not only use less materials, but can be shipped much more efficiently, which saves both money and fossil fuels. I understand it’s hard to just the price of Lego if it’s in a tiny box, and it certainly would seem less impressive to a kid. But, I would think they could make the piece count larger and more prominent then that would go a long way in helping people see the value. Furthermore, if a decrease in the box size allowed for sets to be cheaper, even just 5% cheaper, I think that would be a very positive move for Lego.

@holdre007 said:
"As LEGO is a family-owned company and doesn't need to please greedy stockholders it is alarming that it earns so well. I predict that one day in a not so distant future (12...15 years) the family realises they have accumulated more than enough money and for environmental reasons will end production for good. While there won't be any more consumer products, some production capability will remain for the parks' and LEGO house' maintenance needs and keeping patents. "
ROFL

Best joke ever.

Next step: cardboard boxes without 60% AIR.

This is such a great idea, It will be cool when lego makes all bricks from sustainable materials as well.

I have a lego world builder project which I've been working on about sustainability - https://worldbuilder.tongal.com/world/9a8cb303-8847-4c7b-a2ef-3584f897bcab

I think that it would be really cool if Legois to produce a theme about sustainability to go with the introduction of paper bags in the sets

Liked the bags with the holes in them back in the day. And those flip-front boxes. Now, boxes are mostly air with instructions and stickers getting damaged before even opening them.

@Trigger_:
That’s actually a problem car manufacturers have created by trying to shift to plant-based plastics for wire insulation. Yes, it does the job as well as oil-based equivalents, but rodents like squirrels find it particularly tasty. I’ve read it a family that has had to get a four-figure wiring repair job done on one car within a single year no less than _three_times_. They ended up having to pour some noxious powder in a ring around their vehicle when parking it overnight just to keep them away. So, you have to wonder how good that is for the environment compared to using up by-products from refining crude.

As for the part bags, I’ve had several Bricklink sellers who fill them with parts and then impulse-seal them shut, which is a form of recycling that’s remarkably clean.

@Bulletbob said:
" @MusiMus said:
"Honestly, I didn't have a habit of throwing away plastic bags after building the set, but when I hear someone throwing boxes or smoking it in the fireplace, I literally have a headache."

What do you do with your plastic bags then?"

I keep it in boxes. Sometimes I later use them for something, e.g. for parts for an alternative model.

@CCC said:
" @darkstonegrey said:
" @CCC said:
" @darkstonegrey said:
"Well this move is going to make visual verification of opened sets for resell with the bags still sealed almost impossible to trust what you'll actually be getting.

These paper bags aren't likely to hold up as well as plastic when an exposed set box becomes water-damaged. Higher risk of mold and mildew contamination of the bricks. These bags won't be viable after such an event and the bricks would just be transferred to plastic zip-loc bags by the unfortunate owner if trying to salvage the set immediately after. I guess it's possible these new bags are waxed/coated in some way, but without additional contamination how feasibly recyclable would they really be?"

Why would they care about the resale market for opened box but still new sets? That market is tiny compared to their primary market."

It's not about TLG caring about the resale market, it's about what we as the end-consumer care about when availing ourselves to various methods for acquiring sets. I do this regularly when looking for parts to expand/enlarge/enclose a particular set design."

The vast majority of LEGO buyers buying buy either online or from the shelves of a retail store. A minority buy sealed boxes on the secondary market or buy parts that have been taken out of bags. The number of buyers affected by going from clear to opaque bands is tiny."

The benefit before was being able to see the parts inside clear closed bags once the set box has been opened, therefore it affects everyone who unboxes a set whether they intend to build it or not.

@darkstonegrey, while it may technically affect everyone, whether it makes a difference or really matters is another thing. I suspect it won’t be an issue for most people, as most people are indeed buying these sets to build, thus opening and disposing of the bags. The way Lego sees it, the positives of going this route outweigh the negatives, and I agree.

@fakespacesquid said:
" @darkstonegrey said:
"It's possible sellers might forget what set the bags are from and are not intending to 'scheme' anything, just that they honestly mistaken what set the bags belong to, which a savvy buyer can easily visually verify with the current plastic bags provided the seller posts adequate photos.

I for one have a lot of sets waiting to build and too little room to build everything immediately so have to wait months (sometimes years) to build them. I'm humble enough to know there are likely others located in flood-prone regions and in my same build/storage situation that haven't the luxury to always follow your idealistic advice to "build your sets before you get flooded"."

So the seller is opening boxes, putting bags from different sets together, and then putting the random bags back into random boxes? It sounds like the issue doesn't lie with the opacity of the bags

Lol, you don't have the luxury of building all of the sets you get, but you have the luxury of getting more sets than you can build. Not sure which one of us needs to check our privilege. "

No, these sellers are parting out sets to sell minifigs separately from the builds or keep the minifigs and sell off the rest of the bags which are mostly unopened (and what I'm looking for as a buyer to ensure I'm getting factory bagged parts). Having the ability to visually verify the parts makes a big difference for this kind of part hunting; it remains to be seen, but if these opaque bags have some identifying code that relates directly to their contents and set association then that will greatly aid in such an endeavor. However visual verification has been (and always will be) the simplest and most effective method of verification; obscuring that process with these new paper bags isn't an improvement.

I'm okay with Lego moving into the direction of reducing plastic bags. However have anyone really noticed and concerned about the 'air' that is packed in each of the sets? Why does the 'air' affects environment, you might ask. Well, does anyone experienced asking a bricklink seller to send the whole set, together with the box, vs sending it without the box and just with the bricks?

Answer is, the 'air' inside the sets are causing extra storage, transport, through the whole supply chain. Thus causing extra fuel consumption in the process -> unnecessarily. The only reason those boxes need to be big is because they need to catch the attention of buyers on the shelves -> for marketing purpose.

Bricks are getting smaller, instruction manuals are getting bigger (to make it feel like you're buying a heavy thing), box stays almost the same size throughout the past years (minor shrinking is noticed, but not a lot). In my opinion the 'air' inside the boxes are the most environmental unfriendly aspect of this.

The other product that shares the same aspect is the potato chips (or crisp), but there the air is needed to maintain the freshness of the product. Other than that I do not notice any other product category that is purposely packed loosely in the retails and supermarkets.

@audiobean:
If you read through all the comments, several of us have discussed box size. In the US, boxes are sized to make sure the model can be displayed lifesize for the vast majority of sets, since most parents equate size of the final model with the value of the set compared to purchase price. Shrink the boxes, you also shrink the box art, and make the model seem like it’s worth less than you’re charging for it.

They did briefly experiment with boxes that were reduced in all three dimensions, and quickly backpedaled to only make them thinner. The flip side of this is that doing so has made the instructions more prone to damage, since it’s harder to slide bags of parts into the box without hooking the instruction booklet and crumpling some or all of the pages.

Potato chips have lots of air for the same reason. It has nothing to do with freshness, since exposure to air is what makes them go stale in the first place. The more air you pack with them, the faster they do so. If you packed a snack bag of chips inside a sealed 55gal drum, they’d be stale by the time they reached the store shelf. No, the reason chips have so much air inside the bag is to keep them from breaking during shipment. By putting up the bag, you make it nearly impossible to squeeze the contents hard enough to crush them into tiny bits. Pringles and other similar products are exceptions because they’re pressed into a uniform shape that stacks nicely, and then loaded into a rigid canister. Planters also uses rigid canisters for their Cheez Curls and Cheez Balls, which allows them to ship them more full than anything packed in a soft bag. Cereal has to fit inside the box before it’s sealed shut, so some of the extra space is there to ensure an adequate safety margin (without having to shake each box to induce setting), and some of it is simply the settling of product as it’s shipped from the factory to retail markets all over.

@PurpleDave : I don't remember if we've talked about this but have you noticed any correlation between taped boxes having crumpled bags and instructions, and push tab boxes having flat, uncrumpled bags and pristine instructions that seem to have been packed very neatly? I have, though there have been exceptions one way or the other. I've always wondered why this was the case.