Earthzone Environmentally Friendly Pencils
I'm not what you would call an 'earth mother', but I do try and make an effort to reduce, reuse and recycle. My kids use stainless steel water bottles and reusable tupperware containers for school snacks and lunches. Junk mail or discarded printer paper is added to the craft/art pile before it's tossed. But what about their pencils?
According to Vancouver based company Earthzone: For hundreds of years, traditional pencils have been made out of wood, which damages the environment and harms our planet through deforestation and industrial waste. Each year, 14 billion pencils are made and thrown away in landfills, wasting our natural resources.
I guess because they're so small I have never really thought about the environmental impact pencils can make. And with three kids we go through a lot of pencils, both regular HB as well as coloured ones. To combat this, Earthzone has developed a non-toxic, environmentally safe pencil made from whole sheets of 100% recycled newspapers. By using one 4-foot stack of newspapers, a 40-foot pine tree can be saved.
So Earthzone pencils are environmentally safe, but how are they to use? I must admit I had my doubts on how these pencils would perform so I had them send me some to sample, or rather for my kids to sample. They come already sharpened and ready for use. The timing was perfect as we were creating Thank You cards for the Christmas season. The colours were very bright and the lead didn't flake under pressure (you know how kids are, you have to draw so the paper can feel it). The regular HB pencils performed just as well. But the big test was when it came time to sharpen them. In the past some pencils we've had to sharpen an inch or two off in order to get and maintain a sharp point. The Earthzone pencils sharpened easily and quickly; the pencil didn't break in the sharpener or while being used right after sharpening.
The pencils themselves don't look any different from standard pencils with the exception of the shaved point area; my kids love that they can see the layers of newsprint. Another benefit with the Earthzone pencils is that you can recycle the pencil shavings. My kids love that their pencils don't break every time they use them and that the colours are nice and bright and I feel pretty good knowing their helping the environment just a little bit.
Earthzone pencils can be bought in packs at most Chapters stores or online at Earthzone's website.
 About the Author
With a background in advertising, Carrie Anne left the agency life to spend more time with her three energetic and active kids (age 7, 5, & 3). She continues to work with marketing agencies testing online programs and has been working with Today's Parent magazine for the last three years testing toys for their annual toy issue.
As a Mom Influencer and the Review Editor at Everythingmom.com , Carrie Anne plans to share her thoughts on products that might be of interest to you and your family. She will put them to the test so you don't have to.
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