Disposable pens, as their name implies, are only disposable. They can't be recycled, even if you take the time to pull them apart. Granted, there are a lot of ideas for reusing the different parts of a pen. Some people suggest using the pen casing to hold a thermometer. (Seriously. Because we're all looking for that perfect thing to hold a thermometer...) But there just aren't enough cute and clever ways to reuse all of those dried up disposable pens. That means all of the disposable pens that are purchased eventually end up in a landfill or in our waterways.

Consider this - Bic claims to have sold more than 100 billion pens. I found some fun math here. If each pen is 5.5 inches long, then 100 billion pens laid end to end would circle the earth 348 times. And Bic is just ONE company making pens...

So here's the green tip 'o the day: Don't buy disposable pens. At lease buy a decent reusable pen with a package of refills. Another good option is to buy pens made from post-consumer recycled plastic. The best of all possible worlds is to buy a reusable pen made from post-consumer recycled plastic! Do that, and you can use that pen to write 'Planet-Saving Hero' on your forehead.