We all still remember the time we used to eagerly wait for our primary classes to get over so that we could hand ourselves a pen! Am I right or not? For sure, I was one of them. Now, moving ahead can you even imagine that just a mere plastic pen could be one of the greatest contributors of the plastic pollution in the world. Well, let me throw some light on it!
PLASTIC PENS: ALTERNATIVES
I hope you know the very first solution, a pencil of course. It is eco friendly since it is made of wood and also the graphite of which the grey lead inside the pencil is made of can be used as a compost, even the pencil shavings too. It’s all organic matter. Even if the pencil breaks, we get two pencils. Does a pen offer you that much courtesy? Obviously not.
Let’s travel a little back in time when people were really fond of fountain pens. Well, it’s one hell of a solution. These fountain pens are refillable so you just need an ink bottle and guess what, you can even use different inks to write with. If you haven’t used a fountain pen, try it once. It's really smooth to write with and even causes less hand fatigue and cramping. So to reduce our environmental footprint ,we can absolutely switch onto them in no time.
There are many online companies which actually sell eco friendly pens, completely plastic free and you will be amazed to know that they are really cheap just 10-15 rupees only. You can check out Green-O-Tech India, Indiamart etc on the internet and they even offer seed paper pencils,pens too. Isn’t it amazing?
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| Source: amazon.com |
Now, you must be intrigued to know if anything is happening about it in the world so let me share a drive actually a “pen drive” or another good reason to love our country.
COMPOSITION:
These pens are generally composed of recycled material, bamboo, ABS plastics (plastics that can be recycled), half wheat stalk, therefore minimising the use of plastic. Some are made of 100% cardboard or post consume recyclable bottles, even recyclable newspapers which are completely sustainable and non toxic and especially beneficial to those who are environment conscious.
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| Composition of B2P pens Source: amazon.com |
These pens do have a sleek style and shape. You can check them out by clicking the link below:
https://www.thelessen.com/eco-friendly-products/eco-friendly-pens/
A breathtaking fact to know is once a pen is used and tossed into a landfill, it could take upto 50,000 years to decompose which is staggering given that over 14 million pens are bought worldwide, each day . Now, do you realise the grave importance to switch onto these pens? I hope, you do, fingers crossed!
Say No To Plastic: Kerala Wages A War On Plastic With A ‘Pen Drive’:
Pen is mightier than sword, they say. And now an artist from Kerala has made the pen a weapon of choice to fight the plastic menace.
The thought is so simple that it almost leaves you feeling, “How come no one thought of this before!” Called the ‘Pen Drive’, the main objective of the initiative is a fight against the use of ball pens. The reason? Ball pens are made of plastics and as bad as plastic bags and bottles. This is the brainchild of Lakshmi Menon, a well-known artist.
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| Lakshmi Menon, an interior, jewellery, fashion and product designer |
The main motto of the drive is – Replace ball pens with ink pens. The ambitious drive is now one of the largest plastic waste management efforts in Kerala, and it aims to spread the awareness about the problem that plastic pens pose and why it is important to inculcate the habit of using ink pens and reusable pens. According to the estimates, school students in Kerala alone throw away more than one and a half crore pens in a month. The Pen Drive campaign aims to target this throw away culture and plastic pollution at one go.
You can actually read the full article from the link given below.
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Really informative
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