Introducing Loka, the world's first compostable dry erase marker

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Nov 07, 2019, 16:16 ET

SEATTLE, Nov. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- After several rounds of design, tooling and manufacturing, The Paper Crane Factory is proud to announce the first working prototype of a dry erase marker made to be composted. The project launched on Kickstarter today.

Loka, the Thai word for world, was born out of the desire to decrease the human footprint on the planet without demanding drastic changes in human behavior. We started with a dry erase marker because when bright minds step up to the whiteboard planning to change the world, we want them to think about the planet.

Loka is the first product to launch out of The Paper Crane Factory's incubator, Creativity Solves Everything.

"Office supplies are a 6 billion dollar industry and it's riddled with single use, petroleum based plastics," said The Paper Crane Factory's founder, Cal McAllister. "Our sustainability technology has advanced so much in the past few years, but our thoughtful production of these materials has not. We're starting with a dry erase marker, and are already prototyping what's next."

Loka is launching with eight colors, Midnight (dark blue), Pool (ocean blue), Party (bright red), Royal (purple), Tiger (orange), Cash (green), Wildcat Dream Crusher (deep red) and Death Sled (black). With a focus on eliminating waste, Loka will ship in a recyclable cardboard box which, when reversed folded, exposes a wool felt square to create a dry erase marker. If users have a hard time finding composting facilities in their area, they can return expired markers to be composted by The Paper Crane Factory.

The Kickstarter can be found by searching for "Loka" in Kickstarter's main page. Marker distribution is scheduled for April 2020.

We at Paper Crane Factory are inspired by the Japanese tradition of folding origami cranes for good luck on a new adventure. We're impressed with what a band of dedicated people can accomplish. We're eager to work with early-stage ideas. However, or wherever, they take shape.
Our incubator is named Creativity Solves Everything. Because it does. You can find it here.