Recycle Your Used Pens!

06 November 2015

The Department of Women's & Gender Studies is excited to announce that our office has joined the Office of Sustainability's pen recycling program. The plastic in pens and other writing instruments can be recycled and turned into new products including park benches, picnic tables and waste bins.

Additionally, every pen recycled contributes to a Canadian environmental organization. For every used Sharpie®, Paper Mate®, Expo® and uni-ball® product received, $0.02 is donated to Earth Day Canada. Considering that 11 billion ballpoint pens are sold worldwide every year, that money could really add up.

We invite you to join us in recycling used writing implements by dropping them off in our box located in 2-40 Assiniboia Hall or in the designated receptacles in any other participating units at the University of Alberta.

Recyclable instruments include any brand of...

  • pens and pen caps
  • mechanical pencils
  • markers and marker caps
  • highlighters and highlighter caps
  • permanent markers and permanent marker caps

For more information, see the Sustainability eNEWS article here or visit the Pens Recycling page on the Campus Sustainability Initiative website here.