The Lego Group started a pilot program in the United States this week to recycle previously used bricks by donating them to nonprofits nationwide.
Called Lego Replay, the program is a collaboration among the Lego Group, the charity Give Back Box, Teach for America, and Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston. The program encourages consumers to print out a free UPS shipping label, pack used Lego bricks in a cardboard box, and mail it to a central facility run by the charity Give Back Box, the Danish toy-maker says.
Each brick then gets sorted, inspected by hand, and cleaned prior to being donated to children’s nonprofits. The Lego Group says that most of the bricks will go to Teach for America, which will provide them to thousands of American classrooms, and bricks will also go to Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston for after-school programs.
Most people don’t throw Lego bricks away, preferring to hand them down to family members, but some have asked the company about safe disposal or donation, according to Tim Brooks, vice president, environmental responsibility at the Lego Group.
“Brooks and his team spent the past three years working on the project to ensure the process met the highest quality and safety standards and adhered to US regulations,” the company noted. After that the team connected with Give Back Box, which finds new homes for 11 million tons of unused clothing, footwear, and other textiles that would otherwise go into landfills annually.
Teach for America and Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston expect to get the first shipments of recycled bricks next month. When the pilot ends in spring 2020, the Lego Group says the company plans to consider expanding the program.
