Sam WarnickA lot of us were taught the 3 R's as kids—reduce, reuse, recycle. When it comes to LEGO, we're definitely not going to reduce. But what about reuse? Many of us reuse pieces from sets to build new things. That's kinda small scale though.
I was watching this Financial Times video about how LEGO is trying to be more sustainable. They are realizing that the best way is not to create different materials or packaging, but to improve the reusability of LEGO—including buying and selling used pieces on BrickLink. I should probably do some real research, but my gut is telling me that even with the millions of pieces available on BrickLink, that is a tiny fraction of what could be. It's interesting to think about what BrickLink could be with sustainability in mind. What tools can LEGO provide to make selling used LEGO easier? Should it be easier to buy a large variety of useful used pieces, making it more accessible to people who just want some LEGO for their kids? Could you buy current sets that include some portion of used pieces? I'm not sure.
Sure, the initial investment to buy LEGO sets and pieces is expensive. But they have a lot of life and potential in them. I'm not unique in saying that I have pieces that are decades old that I still use regularly. That is unusual for a product and I think LEGO needs to do more to capitalize on that.