According to CrayolaCrayon.com, if all the regular size Crayola Crayons made in one year were laid end to end they would circle the earth six times!
That is just one manufacturer of crayons. Now imagine how that figure would increase if you considered all the crayons made throughout the world in 1 year.
What you may not know is that crayons are made from petroleum, take vast amounts of resources to produce, and take many, many years to biodegrade. All things that have a negative impact on our environment.
There are a few things that you can do to help decrease the environmental impact that crayon's have without stomping out your child's creative fun.
- Buy crayons that are made without petroleum such as the soy-based Crayon Rocks or Stockmar Beeswax Crayons.
- Make the crayons you have last longer by melting them down.
- Bring your own crayons to restaurant's for your children to use.
- Donate your used crayons to daycares, schools, church groups, doctor offices, police stations, or other places where children color.
- Recycle bits, pieces, and broken crayons via The National Crayon Recycling Program.
The National Crayon Recycling Program.
takes old, rejected, broken crayons and recycles them into fresh, new fun shaped crayons called Crazy Crayons.
Crazy Crayons are handcrafted into hundreds of shapes and themes; Dinosaurs, Butterflies, Flowers, Stars, Hearts, Fish, Fruit, Endangered Species, the Earth (just to name a few).
The proceeds from the sale of Crazy Crayons go right back into the recycling program.
The National Crayon Recycling Program also helps the community by employing people with developmental disabilities to meticulously sort the crayons. (Another plus)
After the crayons are sorted, “they go back to the Crazy Crayon workshop to be melted down, strained, sterilized and hand poured into beautiful, functional works of art for kids to enjoy”
To date the program has redirected 43,000 pounds of unwanted crayons from landfills!
All crayons are accepted for recycling, with or without wrappers, but they prefer the wrappers be on (it's easier to sort the colors that way).
You can ship your used crayons to:
CRAYON RECYCLING PROGRAM
721 Village Road
Pelican Lake, Wisconsin 54463
For more information about this great program or to learn how you can start collecting crayons for recycling visit The National Crayon Recycling Program website.
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I like the idea of melting to make new crayons! For my daughters bday on Monday I made her a crayon wallet that can hold 10 crayons and a notepad. She can take it with her for something to do at restaurants and while she makes the transition to sitting still in church.
What a great idea of a crayon wallet! I bet she loved it. That would be a great goodie bag idea too. Thanks for sharing Jennifer!