The "Color Coordinator" is an easy tool for teachers or kids to organize their colored pencils, markers and crayons in an environmentally friendly way. It is a cheap and simple way to help the environment by using materials you already have.

Step 1: Step One:Gather Materials

1. 1/2 gallon milks cartons in various colors (however many you choose.)

2. Box cutter.

3. Colored pencils, markers, crayons.

4. Thumb tacks.

Step 2: Step Two

Gather several 1/2 gallon milk cartons in various colors, as many as you wish to make.

Step 3: Step Three

Place the milk carton face up on a table with the handle to your right. Using the box cutter, cut the width of the carton just under the handle. Cut halfway down the side of the carton and continue down, cutting towards yourself. Then slice halfway through the base of the carton. Continue up until you reach your original cut. Remove the plastic portion you just cut.

Step 4: Step Four

Repeat Step two for each carton you are using.

Step 5: Step Five

Sort art supplies into cartons according to color. These can be any supplies but crayons, markers, and colored pencils work great.

Step 6: Step 6

Add the thumb tacks into the sides of the cartons, one one each carton's side. This is needed to hold them together.

Step 7: Step 7

Enjoy your Color Coordinator!

Step 8: How Is This a Useful Project?

Americans throw away 25,000,000 milk cartons every hour. That's a lot of plastic going to waste. The volume of a 1/2 gallon milk carton is 1/2 gallon, so if 20 teachers at Lahser High School used 5 of these in their classroom, we would be saving 100 1/2 gallons of cartons from being thrown out, thus diminshing the number thrown out hourly to 24,999,900. The number will continue to decrease, the more people use this idea.

# of cartons recycled and used     #of people recycling them     #amount of milk cartons saved

100                                                        20                                               24,999,900
200                                                        40                                               24,999,800
1000                                                       120                                            24, 999, 000
2000                                                       220                                             24,998,000
3000                                                       320                                             24,997,000

Step 9: Eco Friendly

The surface area of a 1/2 gallon milk carton of milk is 324.704 cubic inches. That means that 8,117,600,000 cubic inches of plastic are being thrown out every hour around the world. If entire schools and communities got involved and recycled these milk cartons,here's how much we would save.

Step 10: Mathematical Calculations

Formula for Surface Area of Half Gallon Milk Carton : Length-9.5 in. Width-3.75 in. Radius of cap-0.74 in. Height of cap-0.79 in. Width of handle-1.7 in. Length of handle-2.4in. Width of space between handle and carton-0.76 in. Length of space between handle and carton-2.3 in. Calculations-9.5x3.75=35.625, 35.625x3=320.625, 3.14x0.74x0.74=1.72, 1.72x2.4=4.08, 0.76x2.3=1.748, 4.08-1.748=2.332, 320.625+1.72+2.332= 324.704 inches cubed!