Lego may survive for 1300 years in ocean Britain
When the Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen first produced the toy that would become known as Lego, he was determined that it would withstand the roughest treatment, air-drying beechwood bricks for two years then roasting them in a kiln for three weeks.
Today, the ubiquitous bricks still have the happy habit of survival, though Kristiansen, who died in 1958, could hardly have imagined that they are likely to last more than a millennium.
Researchers who examined Lego lost in the 1970s and later retrieved from beaches in southwest England have calculated that, once abandoned to the waters, they can survive for centuries. Comparing individual bricks from the shoreline with equivalent unused pieces of Lego of the same vintage, it was estimated that they would take between 100 and 1300 years to be broken down.
‘‘Lego is one of the most popular children’s toys in history and part of its appeal has always been its durability,’’ Andrew Turner, of the University of Plymouth, who led the research, said. ‘‘It 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.
‘‘However, the full extent of its durability was even a surprise to us.’’
For the research, published in the journal Environmental Pollution, voluntary organisations from Cornwall, including Rame Peninsula beach care and the Lego Lost at Sea project, have retrieved thousands of pieces as well as other plastic waste during beach clean-ups.