“The Crayon Initiative was born out of curiosity to know what happened to used restaurant crayons,” says Bryan Ware, founder and executive director of The Crayon Initiative. “When I found out they were thrown in the trash, I set out to find a way to give new life to unwanted crayons. Now we partner with restaurants, schools and organizations across the country to collect and recycle crayons.”
A highlight of this year’s summer collection drive, which is on pace to meet its goal of creating 50,000 new packs of crayons, was the 28-pound crayon donation made by Elizabeth Gannon, a preschool teacher at Morris Avenue School in Long Branch, New Jersey, and a member of the Long Branch Public School’s “Green Team.”
Thanks to a partnership between A.C. Moore Arts & Crafts stores and The Crayon Initiative, a nonprofit that collects and donates unwanted colors, there’s a way to recycle broken, unwanted crayons and keep them out of landfills.
Through August 2, drop off your crumbling colors to any A.C. Moore retail location and deposit them in designated receptacles. The used crayons will be melted down and recycled into new packs by The Crayon Initiative and distributed them to art programs at children’s hospitals nationwide. (Note: one pound of used crayons creates five new packs).
