From Greenpeace’s “Save the Arctic” page.
Posted on 10/09/2014 9:15:40 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
From Greenpeace’s “Save the Arctic” page.
COPENHAGEN — Danish toy maker Lego said Thursday it won’t renew a deal allowing Shell to hand out Lego sets at its gas stations in some 30 countries, following a viral campaign protesting Arctic drilling.
Environmental activists Greenpeace launched in July a video showing an Arctic landscape with a Shell drilling platform made of Lego bricks covered in oil.
Lego CEO Joergen Vig Knudstorp said the protest “may have created misunderstandings among our stakeholders,” adding the company didn’t want to be embroiled in the environmental campaign.
The world’s largest toy maker “should never have become part of Greenpeace’s dispute with Shell,” Vig Knudstorp said. He added Lego had urged Greenpeace to have a direct conversation with Shell.
Under the deal Lego signed with Shell in 2011, toy sets are distributed to customers filling up with minimum 30 liters (7.8 gallons) of gas. The privately owned company said it would continue to honor the contract with Shell until it expires. It did not say when that would be or provide financial details, but noted it was a long-term promotional agreement.
Shell said the deal had so far been a success, and would continue with plans to roll it out in more countries....
(Excerpt) Read more at fuelfix.com ...
Cowards.
Hhmmmmm, Lego’s are made of plastic....
Do they think that plastic grows on trees?
Aren’t Legos made out of plastic which comes from oil?
They didn’t think, they reacted on pure emotion.
And since the environMENTALists won, now they can go after them for the product it self.
Oops, my quick thinking skills were offset by my slow typing skills.
Earth to Lego:
Your products are made out of plastic.
That is to say OIL!!!!!!
My brain hurts.
What is really going to be funny when Lego goes under because oil tycoons are now going to make sure Lego pays. Morons.
Does no one stand up for themselves in this world anymore? I’m dead serious. I know very few men and women who stand firm in their beliefs, values, or livelihoods.
“.... The privately owned company said it would continue to honor the contract with Shell until it expires. It did not say when that would be or provide financial details, but noted it was a long-term promotional agreement....”
Sounds pretty open-ended to me!
Where does the plastic for Legos come from, hmmmmmm?
More than you want to know about the making of Legos...
http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Acrylonitrile_Butadiene_Styrene
Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, often abbreviated ABS, is the plastic used in most modern LEGO elements. Its chemical formula is (C8H8)x·(C4H6)y·(C3H3N)z, and it has melting point at about 105 °C.
ABS is a thermoplastic consisting of a styrene monomer with the addition of an acrylonitrile momomer and a butadiene monomer. It is the butadiene component (a derivative of natural rubber) that is largely responsible for the strength and impact resistance of the plastic. The final form of the plastic was developed as part of the war effort in the mid 1940s.
As part of The LEGO Group’s R&D expansion in the late 1950s to early 1960s, a process development lab was started in Billund under the Swiss engineer Hans Schiess. The first major contribution of the newly developed lab was the switch from cellulose acetate (CA) to ABS. For LEGO, the new material provided a plastic that was more stable, more impact-resistant and more colorfast than CA. Additionally it could be easily injection molded to more exacting tolerances than CA.
LEGO introduced ABS in 1963 and slowly dropped CA over the next several years. Many sets from the 1960s contain both CA and ABS elements. By 1966 in Europe or 1970 in North America all CA stockpiles had been depleted and all sets since have been exclusively ABS.
The German chemical company Bayer AG has long been the exclusive supplier of ABS to the LEGO Group. In 2004 Bayer spun off most of its plastics business as the company Lanxess AG. Today, virtually all plastic used by LEGO is a proprietary version of Lanxess’ Novodur ABS, Makrolon polycarbonate (for transparent elements) and Macrolex dyes for colouring.
Exceptions include clear or translucent parts (which are often made from polycarbonate) and parts that need to be more flexible than ABS allows, such as rods, the clips that connect to them, flags, etc. Cloth and string elements are often made from Delrin, or another nylon variant.
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http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/4259/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene-copolymer-ABS
acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS), a hard, tough, heat-resistant engineering plastic that is widely used in appliance housings, luggage, pipe fittings, and automotive interior parts. Essentially a styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer modified by butadiene rubber, ABS combines the resilience of polybutadiene with the hardness and rigidity of polyacrylonitrile and polystyrene. ABS was patented in 1948 and introduced to commercial markets by the Borg-Warner Corporation in 1954.
ABS is a graft copolymer—that is, a giant molecule predominantly made up of chains of polybutadiene growing from a backbone chain of styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer (SAN) amid more SAN that does not contain pendant polybutadiene. It is made by dissolving polybutadiene in liquid acrylonitrile and styrene monomers and then polymerizing the monomers by the introduction of free-radical initiators. ABS can also be made in an emulsion process, in which polybutadiene is prepared as a watery latex into which styrene and acrylonitrile are introduced and copolymerized. The precise amounts of each copolymer, the length of the polymer chains, and the degree of interlinking can be closely adjusted to product requirements. Essentially the three constituents provide a balance of properties, the butadiene units imparting good impact strength, the acrylonitrile units affording heat resistance, and the styrene units giving the copolymer its rigidity. ABS is regarded as a good engineering plastic (that is, a substitute for metals in structural parts). It can be injection-molded, blow-molded, or extruded.
Shell in heavy negotiations with Kellog’s for a replacement. /Obscure
Does Lego honestly think greenpeace could possibly hurt their company?
I mean, Shell certainly will now definitely HURT lego.
I would. I’d drive them into the ground. Shell could do it too.
You think any significant player in oil is going to notice or care? I don't. Not a blip.
ABS is used in many 3-D printing applications, and IMO provides the best (of the commonly available 3D printing thermoplastics) combination of tensile strength, impact resistance, crack resistance, and thermal stability. It also responds spectacularly well to chemical welding.
I hope so. Screw Lego. Chalk up another boycott.
What a bunch of sissies.
And I thought about making some Lego videos for YouTube. I saw CHiPS one that wasn’t too bad. I could make mine look better than that. But I still liked it.
Barring that, I have acquired some military surplus resin tank and APC models that I was going to do similar with.
Anyone know of a water based spray paint for resin or plastic? They are all flat black. I don’t plan on keeping them but I don’t want to ruin them either.
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