Sustainable Stationery Part I

I used to like summers in Toronto.  The timeless evenings when dusk seemed to linger for hours, and the nights were balmy and made for ice cream.  Somebody once said to me – the great thing about staying in the city during the summer was you could drive anywhere in 20 minutes… and there would be parking when you got there.

This summer has not been so accommodating. The smoke from the wildfires made my chest hurt, and the heat has meant fewer dinners al
fresco. The World Meteorological Organization has declared July, 2023 the hottest month in the past 120,000 years.

Although the spectre of climate change is overwhelming, we try for small victories.

Around 1.6 billion plastic pens are thrown out around the world annually. During the pandemic, we decided to stop carrying single-use pens, and suggested to our fountain pen customers they try bottled ink instead of cartridges.  We can make a fairly compelling case:

• Bottled ink is better for the pen: drawing ink through the nib, feed and collector creates a better fill and reversing the flow of ink keeps the collector cleaner,
• It’s better for the environment: ink comes in glass bottles which can be recycled, whereas plastic cartridges end up in landfill.
• It’s less expensive in the long run: to buy the same amount of ink will be double or triple the price if you are buying cartridges.
• If the pen takes proprietary cartridges, the colour choices can be quite limited.