Since 2010, the California Product Stewardship Council (CPSC) has worked to recognize companies, organizations, and agencies for their creative approaches to  tackling the state’s most problematic products in our waste streams. We’re humbled to have been awarded their highest honor, The Golden Arrow Award, which exemplifies all the characteristics of their Green, Bow & Arrow, and Infinity Awards.

“The Arrow Award winners are leaders in their respective communities in managing resources responsibly, protecting the earth, and creating jobs.” —Doug Kobold, Executive Director of CPSC

Embracing a Circular Economy

At The Crayon Initiative, we use a zero waste system. Our crayons are made entirely of old, discarded crayons sent to us from restaurants, schools, and homes across America, all of which would have otherwise ended up as waxy sludge in a landfill.

After they’re shipped to us, volunteers sort them by color to prepare for melting. We don’t use any new paraffin, new dyes, or tinting materials in our production. We then package them up in boxes made at a facility powered by wind energy.

But we don’t stop there!

Rather than throw away the waxy wrappers from the old crayons after melting, we send them on to be reused in artificial logs.

“The Crayon Initiative showcases how the impacts of creating a circular economy can go beyond just diverting products from the landfill.” —The California Product Stewardship Council

And we love that the actual award is hand decorated to reflect sustainability and made of recycled materials wherever possible! You can see a clip of the award presentation at our annual Melt With You benefit concert in August below!

How You Can Support Sustainability

You can help protect the environment while bringing happiness to children in hospitals in several ways:

1. Donate financially. It costs us $1.46 to create a pack for one child. Without financial support, we aren’t able to process unwanted crayons into recycled ones for children in hospitals.
2. Collect unwanted crayons for us to melt down. We have a whole host of resources for how you can gather used or unwanted crayons. Check them out here!
3. Join a volunteer pod or create your own. If you’re in the Danville, California, area, you might be a great fit to volunteer in our facility! Our volunteer pods commit to a weekly time for consistent melting, molding, and packing our recycled crayons.