Student Contributor -V. Crist
The purpose of the Crayola ColorCycle program is to reduce the amount of plastic that that goes into landfills each year. Crayola accepts any brand of plastic markers including: highlighters, Expo markers, Vis-A-Vis and more! The program is currently available to K-12 schools in the contiguous 48 United States (excludes Hawaii, 
Alaska and Puerto Rico) and some areas in Canada. Crayola hopes to roll out the program to include home schools, daycares and preschools in the future.
Crayola makes it easy for teachers to participate in their program by having a simple registration process and providing pre-paid FedEx labels that you can print out for your marker shipment. You can drop your shipments off at a FedEx location near you or schedule a pick up to make things even easier. On Crayola’s website they provide a printable ColorCycle sign to label marker drop-off boxes with, a parent letter to send home explaining the program and standards-based lessons about recycling.
Teachers can simply participate in the program by placing a marker drop-off box in their own classrooms or expand the reach of the program by introducing it to their whole school. Having students present information about the program to other classes and walk through their school to place the marker drop-off boxes is a great way to actively involve children in the process. To help your class see the impact they are making, I would suggest having students collect the markers on a weekly basis and track of the number or pounds of markers on a classroom chart/graph.
