After a successful campaign last year, Clean Up Peterborough is bringing back its Writing Instrument Challenge for a second year.
Running throughout June, the free recycling initiative encourages residents, schools, businesses, municipalities, libraries, workplaces, community groups, and others across Peterborough County and beyond to collect used writing instruments that would otherwise end up in the garbage.
Last June’s inaugural challenge resulted in more than 26,000 writing instruments being collected, for a total of than 45,000 used pens, markers, highlighters, mechanical pencils, and other plastic-based writing instruments diverted from the landfill since October 2024.
“We’ve already proven that small everyday items can be diverted from landfill when a community works together,” says Clean Up Peterborough founder Steve Paul in a media release. “This year is about making participation even easier, whether it’s a family, classroom, library, office, church, township, or workplace.”
A grassroots volunteer group founded by Paul in April 2024 with the motto “Let’s make the world a better place,” Clean Up Peterborough first began collecting writing instruments through TerraCycle’s free recycling program at Staples stores, with its first collection of old writing instruments held in October 2024.
The group then held an Earth Month writing instrument drive the following April that collected 1,010 unwanted writing instruments, before launching a county-wide challenge that saw 26,772 collected in June.
Clean Up Peterborough has been running the collection drives because plastic-based writing tools as they are generally too small and complex for recycling programs and often end up in landfills.
Through TerraCycle’s Writing Instrument Recycling Program, the items are cleaned, separated by material, and recycled into raw materials that can be used to make new products.
For this year’s challenge, participants can collect pens, markers, highlighters, mechanical pencils, and other plastic-based writing instruments. Wooden pencils, pencil crayons, and crayons are not accepted. Writing instruments containing metal components are accepted, with the metal separated during processing.
Participation is free and open to everyone. Residents and organizations can start their own collection box or station, join an existing drop-off location, organize a workplace, classroom, or community collection, or use a Google map at tinyurl.com/3cyu2cr6 to find participating locations.
The map with participating collection locations throughout Peterborough County will be updated throughout the campaign. Some locations will serve as public drop-off points, while others will participate internally through schools, workplaces, businesses, or organizations.
Participants can choose to operate as either a public drop-off location or a private internal collection point. Organizations interested in becoming a collection point can contact Clean Up Peterborough through Facebook or Instagram @cleanuppeterborough or by email at cleanuppeterborough@gmail.com to be added to the live community map.
Clean Up Peterborough is hoping further expand involvement across the region by encouraging participation from libraries, charities, non-profits, faith groups, sports organizations, families, workplaces, and local businesses.
“There’s no cost to participate and no special equipment required,” Paul says. “All someone needs is a container or box to start collecting. It’s one of the simplest ways people can take direct environmental action together.”
While the Writing Instrument Challenge is focused locally, Clean Up Peterborough is also hoping to expand participation beyond the Peterborough area.
“We’d love to see this inspire participation well beyond our region,” Paul says. “If a classroom in North Bay or Nova Scotia wants to join the movement, that’s an incredible outcome.”
Individuals, schools, and organizations elsewhere in Canada can participate by collecting writing instruments locally and dropping them off at participating Staples locations through the TerraCycle program.
If organizations outside Peterborough County would like to have their collections included in Writing Instrument Challenge totals, they can email Clean Up Peterborough at cleanuppeterborough@gmail.com with their collection totals, photos, and location information before recycling the items locally.
