I found another one of the previously mentioned recycled pencils. This time in the souvenir shop of Martin Mere, a wetland nature reserve. The price was the same as what I paid at the Lancashire Science Festival: 50p (~ 78¢; 63c). Suffice to say that this one isn’t any better than the ones previously shown in this blog. As Kevin wrote in a comment, these pencils are not only not eco, but even anti-eco as they are pretty unusable when it comes to writing with them. A scorched piece of wood writes better than this pencil… This didn’t stop this pencil and the company behind it receiving several awards for it. Oh, well, at least their other, newer products look exciting, like their Saponite pencil holder.
I also bought another recycled item I have previously seen in different shops for quite a while now [1]This pencil case must have been available in Sainsbury’s, maybe also in other supermarkets, for at least five years now.: a pencil case made from recycled car tyres. That’s definitely a better use for those old tyres than the horrible pencil made from recycled car tyres shown in another blog post. This pencil case is flexible, only smells a little bit like tyres and is nice to hold, even though it feels a bit wet and oily. I hope the material doesn’t get porous over time, but we’ll see. The case was £4.99 (~ $7.76; €6.33). You can get these slightly cheaper online – in some places these cases cost £4 each or less.
Prices and exchange rates: July 2012
References
↑1 | This pencil case must have been available in Sainsbury’s, maybe also in other supermarkets, for at least five years now. |
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If I’m not mistaken, the otters are recycled too — they used to be ferrets. 😉
Great photos!
Wow Matthias, 30 quid for a Saponite pencil holder!!!…now if it was made from Amber, then I’d be first in the queue.
Thanks for your comments.
Sean, they do look a bit like ferrets… The weather was really nice (for a change) so we went there. It’s really great and I am sure we’ll go there again…
Kevin, it’s not too expensive for UK standards – I think. Metal or wooden pencil holders will often cost £10 – £20 or more. With Saponite being a more unusual material the price is not too shocking. When I first came to the UK I thought everything was expensive, with a few exceptions, but I got used to it by now….
Hmm, an amber pencil holder, sounds like an idea for a new product line: the Graf von Faber-Castell pencil holder of the year.
And now a link: The ten weirdest pencil holders.
I picked up one of the car tyre pencil cases at an exhibition about four years ago. It’s not my regular case – I use it when I supervise exams – but it’s still going strong.
I did have to lever a sizeable chunk of sharp metal out of it when I first had it though.
Where, do you drag these sites up from, Matthias. The appropriately named No 2 photo of course made me blush but I found the Hedgehog the most novel, although it could get a little “prickly” getting to pencils on the inside. Well done.
Sapphire, that sounds scary. Do you think the sharp metal got there during manufacturing, i.e. because of the materials they used, or you think it got there afterwards?
Kevin, these pencil holders are really rather unusual… I think I prefer more normal ones…