Imagine how many toys each year enjoy a single-season use and then … break apart, run out of battery power, or simply face neglect given that the children have moved on to the next best toy. America is statistically accelerating toward a complete techno-disposable culture, where the ability to “repair” anything like a cell phone is cost prohibitive relative to replacing it. The increasing volume of landfill waste is just one of the metrics of cultural disposablity. However, the classic LEGO® stands as a multi-generational icon of eco-efficiency in the great spirit of REUSE, in part because of the way that it is handed down from siblings and parents rather than ever thrown out.
The foundation LEGO® “brick” with its eight bumps on the rectangle is not only hard to break but it is the ultimate “atomic unit” to create anything that the mind can imagine. From towers to bridges, submarines to rocket ships, children and parents enjoy the interaction over and over.
The founder of GREENandSAVE and his four year old son, both photographed in this article with a recent LEGO® project, have been testing toys and gifts for several recent years that make “green” claims. They nominated for the 2009 GREEN Gift Award the classic “8 Bump Lego Brick” in part because they learned through personal experience that it can easily integrate with the mid-size blocks that are typically for children under the age of three. In this photograph, the larger blocks are used for the upper bridge but they connect directly on top of the classic blocks at the base.
“I loved LEGOs® as a kid and recently found an old classic-sized set from more than 30 years ago that I dumped into my sons play box. We have been fortunate that several friends have older kids so we have great hand-me-downs. Discoving that the classic brick and the larger size could work together gave us the ability to build bigger, more advanced systems than ever,” Charlie Szoradi, President of GREENandSAVE explained.
The Gift of Invention 2009 Award is due in part because Szoradi has applied the idea of the two-size building block components to his work in high performance LED lighting. Light emitting diodes have low- and high-powered chips, and Szoradi is working with his team at GREENandSAVE’s LED lighting division on new integration models. Charlie Szoradi is one of the early pioneers of green architecture and has been featured in Inventors Digest Magazine. He also invented the building block set of tenon-engaging, edge-connecting members, and holds US Patent #5,215,490.
Congratulations to LEGO® for enduring the test of time!
