Keeping crayons out of the trash and getting them into schools in need

When Sheila Morovati's daughter was little, she was a picky eater. They were always trying out new restaurants to see what would stick. And almost every time they'd sit down at a restaurant, they'd get a brand new pack of crayons. 

"They'd barely get used and then before you know it, crayons would be rolling onto the ground or onto the side of the table," said Morovati. "And as I watched the tables get cleared, the crayons were going into the trash."

When she did some research, she learned that millions of crayons from restaurants are thrown away each year. This was in 2009, when Morovati was also seeing arts education programs slashed in schools, with teachers picking up more of the costs for arts supplies. 

That year, she founded the Crayon Collection, an organization that pairs restaurants with Title 1 schools, which have a high percentage of low-income families, and Head Start programs in need of art supplies. Schools develop a relationship with local establishments and go to pick up the lightly-used crayons on a monthly basis. 

"Our goal is to say, 'don’t throw them away, they can be used in so many places,'" she said. "So many schools need those desperately. So, they’re not trash."

Morovati estimates that they've distributed approximately 10 million crayons in the past seven years.

Chains like Denny's and Buffalo Wild Wings have signed on, as well as mom-and-pop shops. Morovati hopes to take the organization national, and they already have and international reach. People from different parts of the world – South Africa, Guam, Puerto Rico – contact her regularly looking to start partnerships where they live. 

And there's also an environmental element to the project. Since crayons are petroleum-based they don't decompose and when thrown away; they sit in landfills.

"It really is an off-the-beaten-path concept for how we can teach our kids about recycling," said Morovati. "And what I love about it is the kids that get involved – they really feel like this pulls at their heart strings."

Next year, the organization will launch a new chapter by providing schools with lessons for art projects that are designed by local artists and tied to Common Core standards. The group will also arrange for local artists to come to schools and work on the projects with the kids.