Photo Credit: South Avenue Elementary School

“Penny,” the marker collection box at Sargent Elementary. Photo Credit: Anna Sullivan Youatt — “Penny,” the marker collection box at Sargent Elementary.
*Photo Credit: Anna Sullivan Youatt*

With recycling markets tanking everywhere (see New York Times article “As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling”) now that China is not buying most of the recycling it used to - especially from the United States - it’s clear that it’s becoming harder to recycle, and waste has been building up more than we realized.

Crayola Launches Fun Marker Collection Recycling Bins

What is catching on, therefore, is increased awareness of ways people can tweak the small stuff in their lives to get rid of stuff without throwing it into the trash. Crayola offers an initiative for schools looking to reduce waste, called ColorCycle, and information can be found here. Says South Avenue Elementary’s Principal Laura Cahill: “The South Avenue PTA started the color box in conjunction with Crayola ColorCycle, and we are encouraging families to send in their old markers throughout the year. We also put markers in here at school as they get used up during class.”

Says Ryan Green, Vice President of South Avenue’s PTA: “Any kind of marker can be collected from any brand. Dry-erase, permanent, doesn't matter. You can send them to school with your kids, and teachers send the little messengers to dump the markers into the tube.”

How To Contain The Dead Markers Before Depositing Into Marker Collection Box

If you’re in a house that has a high marker-loss count, where separated tops and dried-out bodies are found scattered on the floor and in the couch, they now have a place to rest and find a second life. If you don’t have a kid at South Avenue, consider setting aside your markers for a friend who does.

To get into the habit of keeping trashed markers out of the regular trash can, simply designate a pretty box or container in your home, and collect the markers over time. I just stepped on a dead blue dry-erase marker last night. Top on the floor, body on the desk. Dried out and done.

Also, Bottles and Cans Collections For Recycling And Fundraising

The South Avenue PTA, and several other PTA/Os at other schools, also have Bottle and Can Collection points where you can give the school your bottles and cans instead of putting them into your big orange-top recycling bin. It has been announced by recycling professionals at Beacon City Council meetings that glass collection is becoming difficult to sort through. Broken glass contaminates the recycling collection at large, and can make it so that big batches of waste (aka recycling materials) are no longer eligible to be recycled.