Day 31: Mechanical vs. Traditional Pencils

One reader commented on my refillable pen post that his/her solution to the writing utensil conundrum is to use a pencil. However, that is not as simple as it may seem and not an option for us poor Engineering students who have to do a significant amount of work in ink to even have our work considered for grading!

 slate.com's "The Green Lantern" weighed in on the decision in this article, and here is a summary of his thoughts:

The mechanical pencil:  The low cost variety of mechanical pencils are generally made of plastic, or more specifically, polystyrene, (although papermate has come up with some that are biodegrable!) which takes petroleum to produce, and well, hangs around for a couple of centuries after its no longer wanted. The site estimates the average plastic in a mechanical pencil to be around 10g, and according to the Green Lantern's findings, needs about 22 g of petroleum to make it (divided between the actual plastic and the energy used to make it). He also mentions that the process of making the pencil has its own chemical waste. But, the mechanical pencil, provided it isn't lost, has a way longer lifespan than a traditional wooden pencil.

The traditional pencil: Well, this guy's big strong point is that it's made from wood.  So, unlike the mechanical pencil it won't hang around forever in the landfills like an unwanted houseguest.  Eventually it just turns into a pile of shavings. On the downside, trees need to be cut down to make the wooden pencil. Furthermore, a lot of this wood seems to be shipped to weird parts of the world for processing to be turned into pencils, and then shipped back in pencil form. It is not as efficient as a mechanical pencil, as you lose lead every time you sharpen it, and it then has a pretty short life span as a writing utensil, so you need more of them which results in more shipping, more wood etc.

The verdict: It seems that if you are responsible enough to not lose the mechanical pencil and keep it for a relatively long period of time, it is the greener choice. But otherwise, the traditional pencil is better choice.

A few other thoughts: A lot of these environmentally friendly products sometimes miss their mark. For instance, I have been trying for about a week now to find the re-fills for my pen that BIC markets as refillable. After visiting several big-name office supply type stores and no success in finding the refills, I had to special order them from a stationary shop - and I had to buy all four colours in one package (even though I only ran out of blue). Furthermore, the refills cost more than the pen did originally. This is not going to incite people to refill this pen, and I think BIC didn't think this one through all the way.

Moreover, a lot of these allegedly "eco-friendly" products come in ridiculous packaging - cardboard backing with un-recyclable plastic. We also need to keep in mind that it takes money, energy, chemicals and water to recycle things and turn them into new things -so this system isn't as awesome as we think it is. The trick is to buy (and throw out) less stuff in the first place. 

Once again I am not suggesting that you go out and buy new mechanical pencils. I'm sure you already have a few kicking around at home. Though, they are probably empty and, annoyingly, have no eraser left. So, give this poor old friend  a face-life. Fill it full of lead again (try to buy as much as you can per package to avoid excess packaging - I think it is silly that lead come in those little plastic vials) and pop an eraser top on top! Voila! It is ready to go and  be your companion through many hours of note-taking, essay writing, integrating or resolving vectors into components!