1 Mom's Viral Reminder Will Make You Think Twice About Chucking Your Kid's Old Markers in the Trash

Hali McCloud, a mom from Hawaii, is well aware of the fact we need to take care of our planet during the time we live on it, and that means limiting our waste. In a now-viral Facebook post, Hali shared that Crayola will recycle old, dried-up markers — regardless of the brand — through their ColorCycle program, and every parent should keep that in mind for back-to-school season.

"Fifteen pounds of dead markers that will not end up in Maui's landfill or ocean," she wrote. "Did you know that Crayola has a program called ColorCycle? If you collect the dead markers, they'll send you a free shipping label and you can ship them back to Crayola to be recycled!"

And this could be a game changer for the environment given the number of markers kids go through at a clip.

"If I can get just one person to start the ColorCycle program at school, then I am happy."

"My kids found out about this and were so excited to set up boxes at their schools," explained Hali. "These markers were collected in just three months at my son's preschool! Imagine what we could divert from landfills during the whole school year at every school! The only problem is that right now they don't pay for free shipping in Hawaii or Alaska, so I'm paying the shipping out of my own pocket but it's totally worth it to not ever find these markers on our beaches!"

Although Crayola won't foot the shipping bill for boxes coming from Alaska or Hawaii, they'll cover the costs of boxes being shipped within the continental United States.

"If I can get just one person to start the ColorCycle program at school, then I am happy," Hali told POPSUGAR. "Plastic like the kind these markers are made with can last hundreds of years. Getting them recycled is huge! I'm also really hoping that the more attention this gets, the greater the chance Crayola will respond and include Hawaii and Alaska in the program."

Any school that has students in kindergarten and beyond can participate in the ColorCycle program. And yes, that includes high schools! All you need to do is make an account online to get the ball rolling.