By Zara Samdani, Co-T/E Life Editor

The environmental toll of disposed pens unsettled then-third-grader Shriya Prakash.

“They just stay in landfills for years and years,” Prakash said. “There’s over 2 billion thrown away (annually).”

Prakash founded PenSavy in 2016 to address the issue of writing instrument wastage by giving writing utensils a new purpose.

“It is based on the idea that pens, markers and other writing utensils are not biodegradable,” Prakash said. “We put out boxes where you can put any dried out pens, markers, sharpies (and) highlighters. We collect those boxes periodically and dispose of them through an organization, where it turns into asphalt for roads, other writing utensils and just repurposes it in a way that would allow it to be disposed of better.”

PenSavy’s mission arose from a simple observation. Prakash, a third-grader at the time, was looking for an easy way to make a positive environmental impact. When she noticed the constant stream of discarded pens in the classrooms, she decided to target schools first.

“At the time, because I was so young, the place where I saw pens get thrown away the most was in schools. Countless times when the markers didn’t work, teachers would just chuck them into the trash can,” Prakash said. “So school was a really easy and accessible place to start trying to collect these and try to prevent them from going into landfills.”

After launching the initiative, she secured grants from The Pennsylvania State University to fund collection boxes. She decorated the exterior of  boxes and began to place them in her elementary school.

When a colored writing utensil dries out, a student or teacher can deposit them into the boxes for recycling. Currently, she has situated a few boxes in public spaces around Conestoga, such as the library and in classrooms. However, Prakash’s initiative extends beyond school doors.

“I used to focus on individual classrooms, individual people, but something that I’ve been working toward is trying to go more on a bigger scale,” Prakash said. “I wanted bigger boxes at bigger community locations, or just libraries and companies, rather than just have one box here.”

Prakash is currently partnered with several organizations to distribute boxes, such as The Pennsylvania State University, Color Me Mine, and the Paoli and Tredyffrin Libraries.

As of March, she has collected more than 20,000 pens and utilizes social media, a website and presentations to raise awareness for her initiative.  As president of the Greening ’Stoga Task Force, Prakash brought the initiative to the club.

Members dedicate their time to creating and decorating collection boxes. During meetings, after securing enough cardboard, they fold the boxes, print out labels and paste them on the sides of the boxes.

“We’ve dedicated a lot of the meetings to decorating the boxes, putting them together, and then distributing, collecting and counting the pens,” Prakash said.

Looking ahead, Prakash hopes to expand PenSavy geographically. Her ultimate goal is to integrate sustainable practices into students’ everyday life.

Zara Samdani can be reached at [email protected].