“Thanks for your interest in our biodegradable pens. If you ink has run out, you can keep using the biodegradable pen by inserting an ink refill into it. Unfortunately, our supplier is no longer carrying these ink refills but you can purchase them at most stationary supply stores (e.g. Staples, Grand & Toy, etc.).

The pen itself can be placed directly into your home compost bin. Depending on the conditions in your compost (e.g. temperature), the corn plastic will take approx. a year to decompose. Please note that only the coloured plastic pen is biodegradable. The ink refill is neither biodegradable nor recyclable. We would love to carry biodegradable ink refills, especially one that uses soy-based ink, however, there is no such product available on the market at this time. “

i tried the paper-pen – pretty good, only a tiny metal barrel inside, a tiny piece of rubber, minimal packaging, and aesthetically pleasing. but i found the pen actually didn’t write very well, probalby more due to the company that made the barrel rather than the actual pen. biggest drawback is it is shipped from eastern europe

http://www.contraforma.com/en/paper-pen.html

i am using the lecce green pen – which grassroots store has a branded version of for retail sale. they use a good type of bioplastic, and i’m unsure if the plastic barrel is compostable. it writes well. it needs its bioplastic materials shipped from italian farms. i found this great document with facts on the pens compostability. i am uncertain, will soon find out, if it actually composts in backyard conditions:

http://www.leccepen.com/files/Mater-Bi_certifications.pdf

i still think, if someone figures out soy-based ink in pens, that would be another improvement. from what i saw the 98% potato pen was the coolest one to be created yet, but that company (dba-co) is out of business.

As a young-en of 26, it truly would never have even occurred to me to buy a re-fillable fountain pen. I’ll be looking into that!

(I know amazon carries the pens too, but I like using a place that specializes in pens. And the sale price they have going on right now is comparable to amazon’s.)

Thanks for mentioning fountain pens! At the ripe young age of 44, I just cannot write with a ballpoint pen for terribly long anymore (and I’m not a fan of rollerballs). I was happy to read fountain pens are not so hard on the hand, and I love that this brand comes in such “now” colors and aren’t totally masculine.
.-= Glenda´s last blog ..Gearing Up for the “No Impact Experiment” Week =-.

They cost about $5, and let you refill your Safari from an ink bottle, rather than wasting all those cartridges.

We have frequent luncheons just for fun, and its sickening how much plastic ware is used, cups, utensils, plates. Sometimes we do use real plates and silverware, but only occasionally.

We also have the typical water coolers with the big plastic jugs. While the jugs are refilled and reused, I try to avoid drinking out of plastic, so I have my own 40 oz stainless steel water bottle that I bring to work every day and have a real glass drinking glass on my desk.

Another thing I do– I keep all paper that I print on one side and isn't confidential in a stack to reuse in my printer when I am printing something that isn't super important.

I also take some of the sheets and cut them into quarter sheets on the office paper cutter, creating my own note paper instead of using post-it notes all the time. I really like doing this.

We do have paper recycling, but nothing else. We use a lot of bottled water for meetings, and I often find myself taking plastic home to recycle myself.