Operation EcoPen on Durham Radio

Derek and I were really excited to get a chance to talk about EcoPen on the Durham Radio News. 

Two Oshawa boys create ‘Operation EcoPen’ recycling program
October 20, 2016 | 11:57 am

Did you know you could recycle used pens, pencils and markers?

Two Oshawa boys have set up Operation Eco-Pen with drop boxes set up across the region.

Luke Nguyen, 10, says he and his brother Derek, 12, saw their mom collecting used pens and thought they’d get more people on board.

“(We) wondered what about all the pens used at offices? Do people get to recycle them too?” said Luke. “We thought it would be really cool and fun to come up with a way to gather up some of the used writing instruments that people throw away at work and school.”

Luke designed and drew the logo for collection boxes.

“We set up ‘Operation EcoPen’ boxes at various locations in the Durham Region, so hopefully people can drop used writing utensils into the box so they can be recycled,” Derek said.

Since the summer, the boys have collected hundreds of writing instruments and have expanded their collections to their school, Pringle Creek Public School. Their mother Rachel Chong says that Taunton Health Centre and Courtice Health Centre will soon be participating in the collection program, and that it is the hope Lakeridge Health will also get involved.

The collections are donated to the Staples Writing Instrument Recycling Program through TerraCycle Canada at 306 locations nationwide and this year alone they’ve collected about 195,000 donations.

“We use up a lot of resources and it’s not really fair to future generations,” Luke said. “Recycling even really small things that we use everyday can make a huge difference if everybody does it.”