Lego could survive for 1,300 years! 

| Read time: 3 minute(s)

Lego bricks are so tough they could survive in the sea for 1300 years, according to new research. And we thought only plastic was harmful! Scientists analysed blocks, made of a plastic called acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, that washed up on the coast of southwest England after being lost from a container ship that was hit by a massive wave during a storm in 1997. They confirmed the ages of individual pieces, weighed them, then compared them with unused pieces from the 1970s and 1980s. It allowed them to work out the rate at which the plastic was eroding in the salt water. The Plymouth University study came to the conclusion the bricks could survive in the sea for anywhere between 100 and 1300 years. Lego is specifically designed to be played with and handled, so it may not be especially surprising that despite potentially being in the sea for decades, it isn’t significantly worn down. Volunteer groups in southwest England have found thousands of bits of Lego and other plastics during regular beach clean-ups. Lego has promised its bricks will be 100 percent sustainable by 2030. Fun fact Only 2% of Lego plastic pieces, or 80 of the around 3600 construction pieces, are made of a sugarcane-based polyethylene.

Lego bricks are so tough they could survive in the sea for 1300 years, according to new research. And we thought only plastic was harmful!

Scientists analysed blocks, made of a plastic called acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, that washed up on the coast of southwest England after being lost from a container ship that was hit by a massive wave during a storm in 1997.

They confirmed the ages of individual pieces, weighed them, then compared them with unused pieces from the 1970s and 1980s.

It allowed them to work out the rate at which the plastic was eroding in the salt water.

The Plymouth University study came to the conclusion the bricks could survive in the sea for anywhere between 100 and 1300 years.

Lego is specifically designed to be played with and handled, so it may not be especially surprising that despite potentially being in the sea for decades, it isn’t significantly worn down.

Volunteer groups in southwest England have found thousands of bits of Lego and other plastics during regular beach clean-ups.

Lego has promised its bricks will be 100 percent sustainable by 2030.


Fun Fact

Only 2% of Lego plastic pieces, or 80 of the around 3600 construction pieces, are made of a sugarcane-based polyethylene. 


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