Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2011 10:13 pm Posts: 630 Location: If I told you, I'd have to kill you.
The extreme waste of LEGO packaging.
It has been recently brought to my attention of the waste that LEGO has with packaging. A few TECHNIC sets I recently got had boxes two-thirds full of air. A single motor from LEGO came in a 12x8x6.5 inch box.
What are your thoughts?
_________________ A.K.A. inxt-generation Self-proclaimed genius, and future world dominator. My Brickshelf Folder "Don't they teach recreational mathematics anymore?" - The Tenth Doctor Bow down to Nikola Tesla, King of the Geek Gods.
Mon Sep 17, 2012 5:13 pm
mightor
Site Admin
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:14 am Posts: 3654 Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Re: The extreme waste of LEGO packaging.
It has to do with standard packaging and automated packaging systems. The more sizes you have, the more complex the system needs to be. You may find that to be a lot more wasteful Just throw it in the recycle bin.
- Xander
_________________ | Professional Conduit of Reasonableness | (Title bestowed upon on the 8th day of November, 2013) | My Blog: I'd Rather Be Building Robots | ROBOTC 3rd Party Driver Suite: [Project Page]
Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:17 am
MHTS
Guru
Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2009 5:46 am Posts: 1523
Re: The extreme waste of LEGO packaging.
mightor wrote:
Just throw it in the recycle bin. - Xander
Alternatively, I sometimes save nice boxes so if I need to ship something, I have boxes.
Tue Sep 18, 2012 2:01 am
mightor
Site Admin
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:14 am Posts: 3654 Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Re: The extreme waste of LEGO packaging.
Yup, I do the same, I have a nice pile of them and the packing materials I put in a separate big bag, so I can reuse them, too.
- Xander
_________________ | Professional Conduit of Reasonableness | (Title bestowed upon on the 8th day of November, 2013) | My Blog: I'd Rather Be Building Robots | ROBOTC 3rd Party Driver Suite: [Project Page]
Tue Sep 18, 2012 2:14 am
magicode
Moderator
Joined: Tue Sep 14, 2010 9:19 pm Posts: 496
Re: The extreme waste of LEGO packaging.
I love getting boxes. They come in handy quite a lot, so I have stacks of them in my basement. You might even, ahem, build a robot out of it.
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Tue Sep 18, 2012 8:11 am
mightor
Site Admin
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:14 am Posts: 3654 Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Re: The extreme waste of LEGO packaging.
Got a box today! Well, ok, a padded envelope with a small box inside. It's the new Mindsensors LightSensorArray On their way are: * A Raspberry Pi * A HiTechnic Force Sensor * A HiTechnic MiniScope
I love packages!
- Xander
_________________ | Professional Conduit of Reasonableness | (Title bestowed upon on the 8th day of November, 2013) | My Blog: I'd Rather Be Building Robots | ROBOTC 3rd Party Driver Suite: [Project Page]
Tue Sep 18, 2012 8:44 am
MikeJMcFarlane
Rookie
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:43 am Posts: 47
Re: The extreme waste of LEGO packaging.
Sometimes I look at all the piles of packaging and think what a waste, other times I realise how lucky I am to be able to get so many things that require packaging. I too like getting packages:-)
I have mixed feelings about Lego packaging. The Technic sets used to come in amazing boxes with polystyrene/plastic structures inside them and I quite liked that for the ability to store special sets in. But it was a lot of packaging. The current boxes don't feel at all special, and it is almost disappointing to open the huge boxes to have a few small bags and flimsy instructions fall out! With the Lego MBA sets Lego tried initially to send out the small plastic bags of Lego plus (lovely) instructions in a Jiffy bag, but there were loads of problems with the instructions getting damaged in the post so they have changed to shipping them in boxes.
But yes, I think they could do a bit better than they do now, although I would imagine the energy used/CO2 output (or whatever environmental metric you might want to measure against) for the packaging is relatively small compared to the Lego parts and especially electronics inside. It all helps though.
Fri Oct 12, 2012 6:57 am
CU.
Rookie
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 12:19 pm Posts: 10
Re: The extreme waste of LEGO packaging.
I think these packages are not that kind of a big problem, I'm more worried about all the plastic packages for all our food...
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Thu Aug 01, 2013 4:02 am
mightor
Site Admin
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:14 am Posts: 3654 Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Re: The extreme waste of LEGO packaging.
Have you considered eating the plastic to reduce waste?
= Xander
_________________ | Professional Conduit of Reasonableness | (Title bestowed upon on the 8th day of November, 2013) | My Blog: I'd Rather Be Building Robots | ROBOTC 3rd Party Driver Suite: [Project Page]
Sat Aug 03, 2013 2:00 am
NeXT-Generation
Senior Roboticist
Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2011 10:13 pm Posts: 630 Location: If I told you, I'd have to kill you.
Re: The extreme waste of LEGO packaging.
Yes, but it just wouldn't crisp properly... it just gets all melty.
_________________ A.K.A. inxt-generation Self-proclaimed genius, and future world dominator. My Brickshelf Folder "Don't they teach recreational mathematics anymore?" - The Tenth Doctor Bow down to Nikola Tesla, King of the Geek Gods.
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