You may have seen that the LEGO® VIDIYO Bandmates Minifigure series come in small cardboard boxes instead of the usual bags, as all other LEGO Minifigures series have. There could be a reason for the box, it could be because of the additional pieces the Bandmates contain or it could be part of the drive to become more sustainable by dropping plastic packaging in favour of some much easier to recycle? A survey from last year suggested this is something the LEGO Group are looking into. Great for the environment, not so great for LEGO fans. As Minifigures come in blind bags, many people have perfected the skill of bag ‘feeling’ in order to track down every character to complete the set. Their increasing price and multiple characters mean they aren’t the cheapest thing to collect, more so is you have to buy random characters to complete your set.
So how can LEGO Minifigures continue to be a fan favourite and wallet-friendly LEGO product but also help to provide environmentally friendly and easier recyclable packaging? It seems Smarties have the answer! The popular crisp shell covered chocolate sweets have branched out to include additional goodies including a Smarties-filled chocolate bar and chocolate buttons. These come in new coated paper wrappers, which is fully recyclable. It’s just as thick and strong as the current Minifigure packs. Plus it’s safe enough to house a food product, so should be great for a few LEGO elements.
Becoming more environmentally friendly is certainly the way forward. But would you stop buying Minifigures if they start being packaged in boxes? Should they remain in their current bags or would you like to see hybrid packaging using the new paper wrapping introduced by Nestlé? Or maybe you’re perfectly OK with boxed Minifigures.
27th June 2022
I have an image of the very box that LEGO are now saying is their preferred design. It’s dated 20 October 2020 and was sent to me by TLG as part of a consultation. So, it appears they’d already made their mind up nearly 2 years ago?
Of course there’s alternatives to the current foil bag that LEGO use for Minifigures. You’ve demonstrated that here. But, rather than be an environmental choice I would suggest TLG simply hope to flog more Minifigures.
There’s always going to be a fair number of LEGO CMF collectors who will happily buy box after box to get their hands on a full set. Then there’s those of us who don’t want double, triples or quadruples figures.