In celebration of Earth Day, coinciding with National Library Week, the Fredericktown Community Library collected 56 pounds of used, broken crayons and sent them to the Crayon Initiative to be melted down and remade for children who are hospitalized, while also keeping the crayons out of landfills.
“What they do is take them and melt them down, and remake them into crayons,” Fredericktown Community Library Branch Manager Janelle Cothren said. “They’re three-sided with no paper because it holds bacteria, and then they donate them to hospitals around the nation.”
According to the Crayon Initiative’s website, there are more than 240 children’s hospitals around the country that are sent free crayons. In total, 717,200 patients have received crayons through the program. There is also an environmental benefit, as 53,727,391 crayons have been kept out of landfills to date.
The initiative is out of Danville, California, and was founded by Bryan Ware, who went out with his family for dinner and while his sons were coloring on the menu, he wondered where the restaurant crayons went when the restaurant closed. He found that they all ended up in landfills, and crayons do not biodegrade. Ware decided to find a way to repurpose them. He started melting down crayons and remanufacturing them without paper. He made them three-sided instead of being round so children can grip them easier and they also won’t fall off hospital trays. Any of the donated crayons that have paper on them also serve a purpose, as the paper can be used for fire-starting logs, according to Cothren.
Cothren called it a “wonderful organization” and said it was great to be able to help the cause. Libraries in Knox County helped gather donated crayons, which include Gambier, Danville, Fredericktown and Mount Vernon. Dee Scott of Killbuck Savings Bank in Apple Valley collected them at their offices, and crayons also were donated from St. Vincent Pre-School, Mt. Vernon Lions and Killbuck Elementary School.
Cothren said the collections were not even advertised much, as it was a spur-of-the-moment endeavor, showing that this could have an even greater impact if they continue to take part in the future. She said that they do need to pay for shipping, which was quite pricey at $80, but that with community involvement and donations, she sees this potentially being something to continue in the future.
“It is a great program,” Cothren said. “I was looking for things to do for Earth Day and came across that. It was nice to celebrate Earth Day and National Library Week, and people jumped right on the bandwagon."
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