Crayons made with food-grade ingredients from discarded vegetables

The crayons come in 20 different colours, including 10 shades made from fruit and vegetables

Spotted: A partnership between Japanese company Mizuiro Inc and designer Naoko Kimura has created a sustainable alternative to traditional drawing crayons, which are safe for children.  

The crayons are marketed as “Oyasai Crayons” and are made only with natural ingredients such as rice oil and rice wax from rice bran. Moreover, the plant-based ingredients used to make the crayons are sourced from parts of the plant that would be typically discarded during harvest. For example, outer leaves and husks of vegetables are used and pigments have the same food-grade as those used for natural food colouring.  

The collection of crayons includes 10 shades made from fruit and vegetables such as apple, carrots, purple potatoes, Japanese yams, green onions, burdock, corn, cassis and bamboo charcoal.  

The crayons also meet the JIS standard which inspects standard for crayon strength. The company has also passed a strict safety inspection from the European standard toy safety EN71-3: 2013, and has been awarded numerous design awards.  

However, while the product ingredients come from plants and fruits and are qualified food-grade products, they are not suitable for eating. But as a safer and more eco-friendly option for children to play with, they will definitely give parents some peace of mind. 

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