Amazon Basics Refillable Fountain Pen, Medium Point, Brass Barrel, Black Ink

Product Information

More and more cities and states are passing legislation to ban plastic bags and straws, but rarely do we think about the impact of the ink pen. Most of us own too many of them, even if it feels like you can never find one when you need it. Almost none of those pens are recyclable because they’re made of a combination of different types of plastic, metal, and ink. A large portion of them will end up in the landfill…and in that weird place in your car that is just out of reach. The ones that don’t make it to the landfill will eventually become part of the microplastics problem, polluting our oceans and land. To earn the top overall spot, we chose a pen that is a demonstrated hit with customers, having a smooth glide while also being easy on the environment and affordable. Conscience Concepts Cork Retractable Ballpoint Pens are a great choice to get you started using eco-friendly pens in your home, office, school or just about anywhere else. There’s nothing more satisfying than writing with a fountain pen. A rewarding experience, putting pen to paper and seeing your words flourish is only enhanced with this unique writing instrument.

Fountain pens are a top choice when considering the environment because they could theoretically last a lifetime, but they are also more expensive and require one to handle bottled ink. The clip and tip of the pen are made from wheat straw, an agricultural byproduct, which also keeps the wheat straw from being incinerated and contributing to greenhouse gasses. It is difficult to determine what else is mixed with the wheat straw to hold it together. It is likely some type of plastic (see similar Simply Genius pens below for comparison). But the use of wheat straw byproduct is still better than all plastic materials.

The pigments themselves haven’t changed much over the years. When researching pigments, many focus on how long the pigments will last without fading or degrading. Fret not if your pen dries out! Just scribble for a bit or wet the nib with a little water to rehydrate the ink. Tip #5: Clean your fountain pen regularly. With the exception of quill pens (which are not at all practical), there’s no such thing as completely zero waste pens. There are some eco-friendly pens, however, and as consumers become more aware of plastic waste, the market for plastic-free pens is expanding. It is important to keep your pen cap on when you are not using it. Since the ink often has water in it, the ink in the nib can dry if left exposed to air and will not write when you go to use it next. Most definitely! Though it will take a little bit of getting used to. How you hold the pen and where you position your writing hand will be much more critical for a lefty. Standard holds may cause the hand to drag through the wet ink and smear.

Higher cost is often among the top reasons people give for not making a more sustainable choice. If you can buy in bulk, you can save money overall. Thankfully, Simply Genius pens are affordable, functional, and partly biodegradable. They’ve made several improvements over a typical plastic pen, reducing the amount of plastic by more than half. These lightweight ballpoint pens have barrels made of recyclable cardboard. The tips and ends—in five colors—are made of a 50/50 mixture of BPA-free plastic and wheat stalk. ABS is derived from petroleum and is not biodegradable. With 5,500 participating locations in the US, there may even be a drop-off point at your local OfficeMax, Staples, public library, or school. And if there’s not, you could be the person to start one. It can be helpful to grab some higher quality paper especially for first time users. Printer or notebook paper can be thinner and harder to work with.Fountain pen ink bottles themselves also function as stylish collector’s items. Visconti has a patented bottle shape that is unique in design and practical, the shape ensuring every last drop of ink can be used.

B2P stands for Bottle-2-Pen. They’re made in the United States from domestically sourced recycled plastic bottles. The Pilot B2P Refillable Retractable Gel Pen and B2P ballpoint pens are made from 89% and 83% recycled plastic bottles, respectively. They’re refillable so you can cut down on plastic waste that way too.Let’s look at some of the best options for zero waste pens. You can read more about why these pens have been chosen below. How you store your fountain pen will largely come down to how much you use it. All in all, the best way is to store it laying flat. This allows the ink to stay wet in the nib without excess ink pooling in the cap. Learn More: How To Store a Fountain Pen Properly

If needed, you can always remove the barrel and twist the fully loaded converter to release just a drop or two of ink from the tip. Fair warning, if you twist too much, you will drip a lot of ink so be prepared with a paper towel or water. How to Use a Fountain Pen: First and foremost, the pen’s plastic bodies are not usually recycled. More often than not, they’re simply discarded in the trash where they’ll take hundreds of years to decompose. Eco-friendly pens and eco pencils are an essential when it comes to eco stationery! Let's be honest we use them all the time at home, work, at school or even when out and about. Fountain pen nibs need much less pressure to write than a ballpoint pen since they have liquid ink. Just moving the tip evenly across the paper should yield the best results. The environmental impact doesn’t end there though. Consider the ink left in pens and how this contaminates soil and water. Add in the environmental cost of raw materials and production, and you’ll soon realise pens have a hefty environmental footprint. Can you recycle pens?The Seltzer Seven Year Pen is a great option. Seltzer used math to come up with the name of their pen. Each pen holds a large volume of ink that will last you an estimated seven years, assuming you use 1 to 2 meters of ink per day, times 365 days, times seven years. That naming was intentional to get us all to think about the sustainability of the things in our lives that we consider disposable. Twist the knob of your converter to send the piston all the way to the bottom of the converter. (You should see the piston descending to the bottom of the converter.) It’s challenging to choose a best overall pen because none on the market are flawless. Even those that use biodegradable materials aren’t 100% compostable. A refillable pen cuts down on waste because when your pen runs out of ink, you only need to discard and replace the inside of the pen—usually the plastic part that holds the ink that connects to the tip. Compared to a traditional disposable plastic pen, refillable pens reduce waste by about 50%. There are a lot of refillable ballpoint pens on the market and they’ve been around for decades. Perhaps the main thing to consider is whether the pen accepts universal refills made by other companies or if they only accept refills from the original manufacturer. If the refill must be specific to the manufacturer, then choose a manufacturer that is likely to be around with refills that are widely available in the future when you need to buy them. If you want to be on the safe side or if you are traveling with an antique, remove the ink from your pen, and store your pen in a separate bag before you fly. Can I use my pen in freezing weather?