USask group prevents 11K crayons from going to landfills through upcycling program

The group began partnering with local restaurants, their largest contributors being Montana's and Olive Garden.

University of Saskatchewan students are providing art supplies to the next generation and teaching them about waste reduction through an upcycling program.

A group of students contributing to the Enactus program have created Re-colour, an initiative to repurpose art supplies within Saskatoon.

The project has also prevented 11,000 crayons from going to local landfills.

“A team member noticed a bunch of crayons going to waste while they were working at a restaurant,” said Enactus co-president Rebecca Keindel.

The group began partnering with local restaurants, their largest contributors being Montana’s and Olive Garden. They also take donations from Saskatoon households.

They collect partially used crayons from the business on a monthly basis and bring them back to campus.

“We have ‘production night’ where we go through the process of peeling, sorting and melting the crayons into a bunch of fun shapes and thicker crayons to prevent breakage,” said Keindel.

For the past year and a half, the new crayons have been distributed to local organizations in need across Saskatoon.