How to Donate or Sell Used Legos
A recent Facebook post from a childhood friend caught my eye: “Anyone Wanna Get Rid Of Lego?” It was on that day that I was asked a story about how to recycle or transfer used LEGOs, so of course I immediately remembered one of my favorite words, which was the most appropriate in this situation: kismet. But beyond coincidence, this post showed just how much LEGOs are a part of the lives of many parents – whether their kids currently enjoy them, or want more out of them, or want to get rid of them.
I asked my friend why she was looking for LEGO on Facebook. “Lego is very popular! They are the original connecting building blocks! She wrote, adding that they are also very expensive. “We got a Lego magazine in the mail, and we almost fell off the prices of some of the kits!”
On Amazon, a large LEGO box costs $ 47.99, a Marvel Hulk kit from LEGO costs $ 23.99, and a Volkswagon Camper Van kit costs $ 119.95. I could see what my friend meant.
So, on the one hand, LEGOs are in demand and roads. But on the other hand, getting rid of LEGO bricks is also a problem that parents everywhere have to deal with. Sounds like a classic case of supply and demand, doesn’t it? The one that shouldn’t create obstacles? Not really.
First, any parent knows that keeping toys in place is not easy. Now imagine you have hundreds of tiny LEGO pieces with the right ones that, put together, can create the United States Capitol Building . Most likely, this will not happen. But some donation sites will not accept LEGOs unless they are in their original packaging.
This means donating can be difficult. Busy parents might think about just recycling plastic blocks, but unfortunately LEGOS are made from ABS plastic, which is not recyclable. According to donation site Brick Recycler, it is often the case that recycling programs are forced to dump recycling from LEGOs into the trash stream because they are too small to be disassembled. (Earlier this year, LEGO announced that it had begun making sustainable LEGOs from plant- derived plastic derived from sugar cane.)
There is also the problem of cleanliness. My same Facebook friend said well, “Lego has all these deep parts that can be a growing field of bacteria and mold. You just don’t know where he comes from and what kind of microbes are in all this. “
This leaves parents with too many LEGO bricks in a bundle. But there are several ways to distribute them rationally. Here are your options:
Option 1. Remove and give to friends or family
This may be the most time consuming of the options, and for busy parents, I suggest skipping straight to Option 2. Nothing here for you!
The LEGO website has instructions for cleaning LEGO (mild soap, water, sponge). But there are also warnings. Don’t let them get hot! Do not put them in a washing machine, dishwasher or microwave! Do not wash them in water above 104F! “When bricks get very hot, they can change shape, which means they won’t work anymore!” the site reads.
Marked!
Once cleaned, LEGO recommends handing over bricks to “maintain creativity,” says Karen Lynch Nolan, senior vice president of Flashpoint PR for LEGO. This means packing them up as best you can and donating them to a friend’s child, a family member’s child, or perhaps your local library or place of worship. Just make sure you call these places first. LEGO donations are not always welcome, however clean they are.
Option 2: Donate to a local charity.
Another option is to collect all your LEGOs and donate them to places like The Salvation Army or Goodwill, but again, make sure the donation site you choose actually accepts them. In New York, after calling half a dozen sites for each agency, I found that some accept LEGOs and some do not. Those who said yes also added that the sets could be confused.
On the other hand, small consignment shops are less likely to take mixed bricks because they don’t have the resources to sort and clean them.
Option 3. Send to collection groups
Sites like Brick Recycler, The Giving Brick, and Brick Dreams have been launched in recent years to address the unique supply and demand challenge presented by LEGO. Everyone has their own donation requirements, but in general they accept donations from all kinds of LEGO bricks: mixed, all together, dirty or clean. Brick Recycler claims to have “repurposed” over 3 million LEGO pieces.
Groups clean and sort the bricks and then hand them over to child support groups, hospitals, kindergartens, and more. Some sell blank sets that have been donated to pay for transactions.
Depending on where you live, you can keep old LEGOs or send them to groups. Brick Recycler pays for shipping.
Option 4. Try to sell them
If you want to get even a small cash return on your investment in LEGO, another option is to sell the LEGO. BrickLink is an impressive online marketplace for both buyers and sellers. It can be searched by LEGO type, color, item number, and more. This is where avid LEGO enthusiasts go in search of that one missing piece.
Toy Brick Brigade was another site that sold large quantities of LEGOs (£ 30 or more), but as of October 2018, they stopped purchasing any other products “until further notice.” Let’s talk about demand.
If you have a LEGO lover in your family, I advise you to try your best to keep the pieces together, or at least organized. And if your kid gets obsessed, check out your local Goodwill or BrickLink for used kits and bricks.