I have lost all mine sadly.

And I had so much given to me. But my life took me in a path that separated me from all my Lego. :-(

> LEGO tends to get hoarded, resold or donated, not thrown away.

I doubt this. Outside Lego enthusiasts, most people see it as a children's toy which is probably disgustingly covered in saliva and in no fit state for anyone else to touch. It's one of the first things to go into the trash when more space is needed in the attic.

You can put them into a pillowcase and wash in a washing machine.

Given how expensive Legos are many people will gladly pick them up from your place, especially if you live in a city. You can look up Buy Nothing and similar groups in your area on FB.

Sure, but most people don't know that. So they chuck them out with the rest of the dog-eared teddy bears.

I'm not convinced you're correct in your belief that most people are like you in this respect. But I don't have evidence to disprove you either.

Tell that to my Mother. She threw away all of our 1970s and 1980s legos, transformers, Star Wars, He-man, etc. toys after we left home. Didn’t even donate them - straight to the landfill.

One day an archeologist is going to be grateful.

Unfortunately, this was in South Florida. The landfill will be underwater at some point.

I was surprised by how complete some sets of mine where when they came over. I don't doubt the 99%, although in my case they are not mine any longer as such, but my five year old son's.

Lego stashes do indeed get hoarded for a generation at a time; a lot of it is kept as valuable for the next generation (lucky bastards).