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Let’s talk about pencils.
The neatest zero waste writing instrument I have used so far was a pencil made out of discarded – and recycled – Euro banknotes. But in the end, when it was all sharpened and gone, I was left with the pencil stub. Not exactly the best end-of-(pencil)-life solution.
Wait a minute. Why are we talking about pencils on a website about plants?
Because I want to introduce you to a pencil that becomes a plant. It’s called Sprout, the original plantable pencil, and it just skyrocketed to the top of my wishlist.
Here’s how it works: once you’ve sharpened the Sprout pencil to an unusable length, you can plant it in a flower pot with drainage, or out in the garden, and you’ll soon have non-GMO, high quality and easy to grow flowers, herbs or vegetables. The seed pot will sprout into fragrant herbs, colorful flowers or delicious cherry tomatoes. The pencil stub then becomes a plant tag and will eventually decompose if buried.
The fastest Sprout pencil germinates in one week, so if you’re impatient to see the transformation from pencil to plant, your best bet is to choose sunflower, red flax or cherry tomato pencils. Other options for the seeds include daisies, carnations, basil, thyme, sage and coriander.
The pencils are made from sustainably-grown PEFC/FSC-certified wood, biodegradable seed capsules and natural clay and graphite core.
The company is based in Denmark, so if you’re in the US, you can buy the plantable pencil from their Amazon store. If you’re in the European Union, you can buy the pencils directly via their website. The Sprout pencil is manufactured in Poland (for the European market) and in Minnesota (for the North American market).
And get this, for the colored pencils, the color of the plant that will sprout matches the color of the pencil.
Their website also lists a plantable eyeliner that’s vegan and made with ethically sourced materials. I’m not sure if it’s available in the United States yet, but do keep an eye out on the official store.
If you have a business, you can order personalized pencils engraved with your message. Ikea, Toyota, Marriott, Target and The European Parliament are a few of the organizations that used the Sprout pencils at their own sustainability events.
But I’m thinking, the personalized version of the planatable pencil would be a snazzy unique gift at a wedding.
All photos via Sprout
See, aren’t you glad we talked about pencils today?
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