Thanks for all the feedback about the ways I’m repurposing discarded crayons – especially the conversations that led me to an article about a large scale crayon repurposing project called The Crayon Initiative. It looks awesome!

Of course, if crayons are no longer on your radar (or under your sofa), what about markers? Lost and loose lids have ended the life of many a young marker. Now, instead of throwing them away, you can recycle them. Crayola’s Colorcycle program recycles not only Crayola brand markers, but any brand of markers, and they’ll even pay the shipping charges to get your markers from here to there.

When recycling and upcycling are this easy, we should never see another crayon or marker in the landfill again.

Speaking of easy, there’s one helpful tip I forgot to share about cleaning up after any project that involves melting crayons. No matter how careful you are, you will have crayon residue on your baking mold when all is said and done. The fastest and easiest way to remove it is to put the mold in a warm oven (275 degrees) for a few minutes – just long enough for the wax to get soft again – then you can wipe it clean.

Note: If you can find a way to use the now wax-covered cloth for some kind of crayon batik creation, you’ll earn a lifetime achievement award in creative reuse!