Thursday, October 30, 2008

A Drawer Full Of Pens


I love discovering companies that are finding ways to recycle currently hard-to-recycle products. My latest find isn't a company, but a person, The Pen Guy, who uses disposable pens to make works of art.
It's great someone is putting used pens to good use because there are a lot of them out there. According to Wikipedia, Bic, the France-based manufacturer of ball-point pens, announced in 2005 it sold its 100 billionth disposable pen.
As you can see, I have more pens than I need. Many of them are so old, they don't write anymore. So my Thrifty Green Thursday tip of the week is mail your old pens to:

The Pen Guy
2425 Mendocino Ave.
Santa Rosa, CA 95403

Click here for more tips.

15 comments:

Wayfaring Wanderer said...

That's awesome.....I could send some from work!

Unknown said...

Ah, but what would I do then, with all that reclaimed space?

MadMad said...

Really? I'd love to see what he ends up making...!

MaryAnn Ashley said...

Great idea! I never have really thought twice about dumping them... now I have a much better alternative.

Thanks for your nomination too...

Cookie said...

That is a great idea. But I do love my pen collection ;) Can I call my pen collection a piece of art? maybe stretching it a little, huh?

dowdyism said...

You could also donate them to Pens For Kids, a charity that sends pens to kids in Africa. It's a pretty cool charity.

http://www.pensforkids.com/index.htm

Rebecca said...

Pretty soon you'll have found a way to recycle everything! I'm already saving up my plastic lids because of you. I will now add dead pens to my home recycling center.

Dowdyism--is the program in Africa a way to recycle old pens, or is it a way to give kids new pens? I guess I don't get what kids would do with pens that no longer work.

dowdyism said...

@Rebecca - any functioning pen. It's a way to send school supplies over for kids who can't afford them. The pens don't have to be new at all, they can be used as long as there is something left in the ink cartridge.

Memarie Lane said...

neat!

Joy said...

What a great way to give them a second life without much effort! Thanks for enriching our TGT with your always brilliant recycling tips!

BOB said...

Thank you all for the very kind feedback:):):)

Kathleen W. said...

That's great! I'm so doing this.

BTW, your post will be up tonight at midnight EST!! Tell your readers!

Shalet said...

Hey - now I know where my pens are disappearing to!
:o)

hokgardner said...

I wish I had pens I could send him. All of mine disappear almost as soon as I buy them. I suspect my daughters, but they claim not to know what I'm talking about. If we ever move out of this house, we're going to move some big piece of furniture and find 200 pens and hair bows hidden behind it.

BOB said...

I have a new address:The Pen Guy - P.O.Box 994 - Forestville, CA 95436