If Starbucks can work to get rid of plastic straws, you can recycle old crayons, markers, and pencils. With this new school year, kids are stocking up on new supplies, but what happens to the old ones?

Well, I'll tell you. They either end up in landfills just filling up space, under couches and old junk drawers and even end up in the ocean. At this point, you might be thinking what is the big deal? Saving the world, THAT is the big deal! There are numerous sources you can send old markers, crayons and other school supplies to help others and create new ways to use them. Here a few you might want to start donating to this school year.

You can recycle old markers thanks to Crayola's ColorCycle. According to Crayola, recycled markers, "will be sent to a facility where they will be converted into clean fuel. This fuel can be used to power vehicles, heat homes, cook meals and more!" They even provide a cool letter you can download and print to get schools or other businesses involved with this movement!

The Crayon Initiative takes old crayons from multiple places like restaurants, schools and even from homes; melts them down and makes new crayons. According to the Crayon Initiative website, "These recycled crayons are distributed to art programs at children’s hospitals across the U.S., brightening the lives of young patients during their stay."

If you have some old pens just lying around, donate those to The Pen Guy Art! He uses them to create incredible art, instead of just letting old pens break a part in a landfill. As for just about everything else, you can team up with TerraCycle. They take most hard-to-recycle waste into something useful. 

So as the new school starts, remember to try to make this world a better place any way you can. Even if it just starts with one crayon, marker or pencil.

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