Episode Summary: This episode is focused on a discussion about Lego, its use as a toy, sustainability, and plastics. It is selected from episode 19 (PLastics and Lego In The Sea) 

Jenn and Rob discuss Lego, the Tokio incident, plastics washed up on our beaches, calls to action, and different factors around the sustainability of the toy.

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To listen to the kids’ episode of  "Why is there so much plastic in the ocean? How did it get there?" go here

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Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Jenn Swanson and Rob Slater.

From Langley in British Columbia, Canada, Jenn is a Minister, Coach, Writer and Community Connector, helping people help themselves.  Rob is from Birmingham in the UK, he is an orthodontist, triathlete, coach and podcaster.

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The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.

, one of the questions I had with

Lego is those projects that

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you can spend Christmas day

or, or hours and hours making.

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They're wonderful as, as

some way to connect right.

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With your, with kids or with adults, it

doesn't have to be kids, but then does

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that ever come apart and get thrown into a

generic box of Lego and played with again?

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Or is, are those special designs?

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Like they didn't used to

have that when I was younger.

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I don't remember buying something.

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That was one purpose yeah.

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I was thinking about.

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One of the, one of the things that I

started doing was cause at, at that time

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there was the Apollo missions going on.

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So everything was about rockets and space.

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So I remember building a rocket and then

there was this series called Thunderbirds.

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So I had to make Thunderbird too,

which had this pod in the middle

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and I found this plate that I

could use to build this thing.

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So I could put the pod

that would push through.

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And so I think, um, it's one of those

things where it seems to have two sides.

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Doesn't it?

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You have that imagination thing where

you just go off on one on your own,

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and there's great advantages to that.

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But the project ones are interesting

because my, um, my second son,

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he, um, he was really keen on

tower bridge in, in London.

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And so he made this large

model, a scaled down model of

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London bridge of tower bridge.

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It's called.

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He's still got that in his room.

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And so it's become like this long

standing ornament that he's had for years.

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Whereas I think there are, others would

just, just get torn apart because yeah,

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you play with it for a while, but then

by taking it apart, it can become another

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toy, which is kind of sustainable.

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Isn't it really not more

sustainable than some other toys.

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Just get chucked out.

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Right.

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Right.

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I think that's the thing.

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If it can be passed down or used

again or saved as an ornament,

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then it doesn't end up in the sea.

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Yeah.

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yeah.

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The longevity of it is, is,

uh, is certainly something that

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comes into its own with Lego.

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Cuz there are other products which

are similar that they never quite fit

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together or stay together quite, quite.

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So.

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Yeah, one thing that I noticed, I don't

go into them very often, but I have seen

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in dollar stores, um, I don't know if

you have dollar stores where you are, but

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stores where you can go in and everything

is extra cheap and not very good.

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and they have toys and it

always frustrates me because

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the toys are terrible.

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They're they're made badly, they're

cheap plastic who knows what.

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Manufacturing practices go into

them and they have something

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that looks like Lego, but isn't.

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Yeah.

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And I thought, why, why,

why , why would anyone buy this

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and why is it still being made?

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Because it's not good.

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It's not gonna stick in the bin

with all the rest of the stuff and

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it's probably gonna get thrown out.

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Yeah.

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At some point.

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Yeah.

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It's a shame.

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Isn't it?

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I've never actually found Lego, but.

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Some of the, the findings on the beaches

have actually become collectors items.

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So if you find one of the dragons,

there weren't that many on the ship.

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And so now there are collectors who

are buying and selling these things.

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So they become collectors items as well.

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Wow.

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That's pretty neat.

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Well, I'll have to, I live near beaches.

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I should go look at the beach.

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Yeah.

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And see if anything made it here.

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Probably not, but you never know.

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But the, one of the positive stories

that's come out of the, uh, the Tokyo,

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uh, disaster is that it has caused

people to come together as a community.

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And it seems to be a, a one

that's building and people are

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going down and beach combin.

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Taking all sorts of other items off

the beaches and cleaning them and even

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creating works of art, which include

all sorts of different plastics that

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have been cleaned up from the beach.

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So that's one of the positives that's

come out of the, of the problem.

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There's a call to action.

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Isn't there, inviting people to go

down to the beach and pick stuff up

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and see if you can make some Arter,

find some Lego wherever you are.

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Yeah.

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Well, there's now a big coalition called

the Cornish plastic pollution coalition,

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and there are 30 or 40 companies,

various kinds that have joined this,

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and they're all actively involved.

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In coastal sustainability.

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Um, and I think local people in

Cornwell get concerned because

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tourists go down there, leave

their junk and then move away.

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And so they're, I think making

people think about what they're

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doing when they go down on holiday.

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So that's a good thing.

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And many of the shops where you can buy

things have pieces of drift with which

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have been turned into something else.

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And some of the art shops do that.

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There maybe we'll see some

Lego art at some point.

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Collected from the beach

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