Pens and markers are everywhere in daily life, which unfortunately adds up to a huge amount of waste across the world. Many of us have the odd pen-top lying around, and it would be great to be able to recycle them.
We all play our part influencing markets, and in turn markets influence our habits. Keep in mind, what you choose to buy — or not buy — has a lot of power to influence what companies make and sell. Nevertheless, we all have that junk drawer (or office stock room) that needs reckoning, so what should be done?
Whether your company accepts pen- and marker-plastic or not, when it comes to writing utensils, the three Rs before Recycle — Reduce and Reuse — are extra important.
Reduce:
Maybe we don’t need as many pens in our lives. It’s nice to have a pen handy, but do you need an eight pack? Probably not. Just get one or two good ones and keep them in a specific place, so they don’t get lost.
Make your writing utensils last. If you store your pens tip down (instead of tip up), the ink will flow by gravity to make sure you get every last drop.
Reuse:
Are you a heavy-duty pen user, an old-fashioned letter writer, or a journal writer? Do you take a lot of notes? Invest in a refillable pen, so you’ll use fewer resources over time — not to mention probably save money in the long run.
The WriteO2 pens are an affordable option, and they are made from 100 percent recycled content. Almost all of them can be refilled with replaceable ink cartridges, so the bulk of the durable materials in the pen can be used over and over.
Another way to extend the useful life of pens is to use them to their completion. Often, only the favorite pens in a drawer get used, and then when it’s time to clean out the drawer, the boring pens get landfilled. Just don’t buy new until you’re out of ink.
Once you’ve used your pens to completion, try to find a take-back program to send them to — or you can make them into a fun jump rope for kids.
WriteO2 is working with schools to promote an in-school take-back program for their pens, which can help kids understand the importance of conserving resources. Who knows, maybe your pen will be famous someday.
We probably won’t give up writing with pens. With that in mind, we can do our best to buy only what we need from companies doing their part to conserve resources and reduce environment pollution, and ensure that what we buy lasts in a useful way as long as possible.
We at WriteO2 make pens without cutting down a single tree and exclusively from recycled paper. The pens are kept plastic free with good ergonomic design.