Where to Donate Used Legos
by
balfeo
-
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Everyone loves legos. Those little plastic blocks have a lot of juice right now, between the original toy, the movies, and all those video games. I know lots of young parents who are pretty psyched to get out their old legos and play with their kids.
This blog also loves legos, because they are currently working on finding an eco-friendly substitute for their toys, leading toy manufacturers everywhere to consider a more responsible material. Hopefully they follow suit, and the nasty plastic toy will be the thing of the past in no time. I kid, it will take over 400 years to decompose. so if no one made another plastic toy again, our descendants will still be seeing them for a long, long time- toy of the past, problem of the future.
So, if we have 400 more years of plastic legos, what can we do with them? Luckily, because this toy is so beloved and so simple, it creates a lot of opportunity for re-use. You would think because of that, there would already be enough legos to go around, but people are still buying new sets.
Is there such a thing as too many legos? This shark certainly thinks so:
Makes me laugh every time. So, if you have finally decided to retire that collection OR (more likely) you just want to thin it to a non-ridiculous size, you have plenty of options to do GOOD with those tiny plastic bricks.
Never just throw away your legos. So many places can use them.
Give them as a Christmas Gift- You could turn your spare old legos into a kit for someone you love. I think this would be a ridiculously cool and thoughtful gift for the right small person. Do an architecture one, but for their grandmas house. Or do a silly kit that they will definitely never see in the store. If making a kit seems like too much, what about making them into ornaments to gift like they do at Ornaments4Charity (one of my favorite Etsy stores)?
Check your Buy Nothing- A neighborhood kid (or their school, church, or afterschool program) may really need those legos, and passing them on to them costs no money (and barely any fossil fuels) in shipping. This is your simplest option, so if you haven't joined a Buy Nothing Group yet, check it out! Or start one, if you are particularly awesome.
Check your local YMCA, Libraries, Religious Spaces, or Day Cares- Legos are easy to clean and so popular with kids, so there is a good chance a kids' space in your own neighborhood needs them and can really use them. If the goal is for the plastic blocks to get 400 years of use, putting them in a space like this is a great idea.
Mail them to Brick Recycler, Brick Dreams, or The Giving Brick- A number of different small groups realized that legos cannot be recycled and that the mixed part bags are not accepted by many Goodwills (we buy our duplos from them, but I can't honestly say I have ever noticed the smaller bricks), so you have some good options to donate.
Brick Recycler is based out of San Jose and has donated them to Boy and Girl Scouts, childrens hospitals, and orphanages in Zimbabwe (now come on, that's a cool place for your legos to end up).
The Giving Brick is based in Kansas City, and they seem to focus their projects on charities and volunteer groups nearby. They also have good lego humor and put their kits in spiffy red cardboard boxes. All important factors, I think.
Brickset also makes lego packs out of donated legos and they donate them to kids in the foster system. Pretty cool!
Donate them to a Nearby Goodwill or Salvation Army- Some neighborhood Goodwills will accept legos outside of kits. Just ask, and they can tell you.
Sell them on Brick Link- I am going to be honest with you; I don't totally get how this website Brick Link works, but you can sell legos here, so if you want to make a little money, you figure it out.
Sell them to Toy Brick Brigade- There is an online store for used legos. They will buy your legos by the pound to turn back into sets. I am honestly surprised more of these don't exist, because there must be so many spare pieces out in the world. They even pay for the shipping. Get a little money, thin down your lego hoard, and even check the store for something used next time you are hankering for more legos. A big step up from just throwing them away or letting them collect dust.
You don't have to be that shark anymore. You will never. ever need all those legos, Mama Shark, send them to a new home.
Now, doesn't this just make you want to go box up some legos and give them to kids in need? Really, do you need all those spares? Plus, I know so many people who have 2,000 legos to give away, and then you have finished the whole goal!
The Great Donate 2018 is on! Can you donate, gift, or recycle 2,018 items out of your house this year? The average American household has 300,000 items in it- who needs that much? No one, but there are lots of people who could use what you have sitting collecting dust.
Check out the Great Donate main page for more suggestions on what to donate and where. You will save money (by knowing what you actually have), free up space, and save so much from going into a landfill.
This blog also loves legos, because they are currently working on finding an eco-friendly substitute for their toys, leading toy manufacturers everywhere to consider a more responsible material. Hopefully they follow suit, and the nasty plastic toy will be the thing of the past in no time. I kid, it will take over 400 years to decompose. so if no one made another plastic toy again, our descendants will still be seeing them for a long, long time- toy of the past, problem of the future.
So, if we have 400 more years of plastic legos, what can we do with them? Luckily, because this toy is so beloved and so simple, it creates a lot of opportunity for re-use. You would think because of that, there would already be enough legos to go around, but people are still buying new sets.
Is there such a thing as too many legos? This shark certainly thinks so:
Makes me laugh every time. So, if you have finally decided to retire that collection OR (more likely) you just want to thin it to a non-ridiculous size, you have plenty of options to do GOOD with those tiny plastic bricks.
Never just throw away your legos. So many places can use them.
Give them as a Christmas Gift- You could turn your spare old legos into a kit for someone you love. I think this would be a ridiculously cool and thoughtful gift for the right small person. Do an architecture one, but for their grandmas house. Or do a silly kit that they will definitely never see in the store. If making a kit seems like too much, what about making them into ornaments to gift like they do at Ornaments4Charity (one of my favorite Etsy stores)?
Check your Buy Nothing- A neighborhood kid (or their school, church, or afterschool program) may really need those legos, and passing them on to them costs no money (and barely any fossil fuels) in shipping. This is your simplest option, so if you haven't joined a Buy Nothing Group yet, check it out! Or start one, if you are particularly awesome.
Check your local YMCA, Libraries, Religious Spaces, or Day Cares- Legos are easy to clean and so popular with kids, so there is a good chance a kids' space in your own neighborhood needs them and can really use them. If the goal is for the plastic blocks to get 400 years of use, putting them in a space like this is a great idea.
Mail them to Brick Recycler, Brick Dreams, or The Giving Brick- A number of different small groups realized that legos cannot be recycled and that the mixed part bags are not accepted by many Goodwills (we buy our duplos from them, but I can't honestly say I have ever noticed the smaller bricks), so you have some good options to donate.
Brick Recycler is based out of San Jose and has donated them to Boy and Girl Scouts, childrens hospitals, and orphanages in Zimbabwe (now come on, that's a cool place for your legos to end up).
The Giving Brick is based in Kansas City, and they seem to focus their projects on charities and volunteer groups nearby. They also have good lego humor and put their kits in spiffy red cardboard boxes. All important factors, I think.
Brickset also makes lego packs out of donated legos and they donate them to kids in the foster system. Pretty cool!
Donate them to a Nearby Goodwill or Salvation Army- Some neighborhood Goodwills will accept legos outside of kits. Just ask, and they can tell you.
Sell them on Brick Link- I am going to be honest with you; I don't totally get how this website Brick Link works, but you can sell legos here, so if you want to make a little money, you figure it out.
Sell them to Toy Brick Brigade- There is an online store for used legos. They will buy your legos by the pound to turn back into sets. I am honestly surprised more of these don't exist, because there must be so many spare pieces out in the world. They even pay for the shipping. Get a little money, thin down your lego hoard, and even check the store for something used next time you are hankering for more legos. A big step up from just throwing them away or letting them collect dust.
You don't have to be that shark anymore. You will never. ever need all those legos, Mama Shark, send them to a new home.
Now, doesn't this just make you want to go box up some legos and give them to kids in need? Really, do you need all those spares? Plus, I know so many people who have 2,000 legos to give away, and then you have finished the whole goal!
The Great Donate 2018 is on! Can you donate, gift, or recycle 2,018 items out of your house this year? The average American household has 300,000 items in it- who needs that much? No one, but there are lots of people who could use what you have sitting collecting dust.
Check out the Great Donate main page for more suggestions on what to donate and where. You will save money (by knowing what you actually have), free up space, and save so much from going into a landfill.