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A University of Saskatchewan student group is keeping waste out of landfills and giving back to children in the community in a colourful way.
Huda Jasem, co-president of Enactus, said the group of 28 students is a non-profit registered charity that runs community projects based on social entrepreneurship.
“We’re empowering students, and we’re also empowering the community through entrepreneurial action,” she said.
Three years ago, the Re-Colour Project was created by a student who was working at a restaurant while studying at the university. Jasem said the student noticed crayons were often thrown out after being used by children at the tables, so she started keeping the crayons and eventually turned the idea into an Enactus project.
Jasem said Re-Colour picks up used crayons once a month from three Montana’s locations, and just started a similar partnership with Olive Garden.
The crayons are sorted, peeled, and processed into new crayons, which come in a variety of different colours and shapes such as robots, puzzle pieces and dinosaurs.
The project is climate-based, Jasem explained, noting the group has diverted about 11,500 crayons from landfills.
Jasem said the group also works towards educating the community about reducing, reusing and recycling.
As the group accumulated more and more crayons, Jasem said they decided they could give back to local children as well as helping the environment.
“(We thought) we should be donating them to kids in the community who don’t have access to good-quality art supplies, and who would just appreciate the gift of a simple crayon,” she said.
“Since the start of the project, we’ve been able to donate to three schools, one crisis centre and one daycare.”
She added the organization has received positive feedback from the community, parents and children about the donations.
“The kids absolutely love it,” Jasem said. “They think it’s an awesome idea.”
Re-Colour crayons also can be seen on the shelves of The Better Good, a sustainable goods store in Saskatoon. Jasem said any money raised from sales is invested back into the project, and shared with the community through donations.
Jasem said the group is looking to expand the project to more restaurants, and the organization accepts donations of used crayons at The Better Good on Broadway Avenue.
