Green office supplies (my Hub page on the topic)  are the topic of the day on this Earth Day.  I’m not a huge fan of multi-billion dollar government-run programs to subsidize things or thrust such burdens on us as consumers or business owners, I much rather leave it to individuals to do what they feel is right, and what makes the most sense for them. With that said, here are some options for green office supplies that I think are worth considering if you are looking to make your home office more environmentally friendly.  I’ve summarized my thoughts on each, but the titles also act as a link to the full reviews, and there is an easy “buy” link at the end of each summary should you find my words so magically appealing that you can’t resist the temptation to instantly purchase some green office supplies for yourself.

Staple Free Stapler:

No metal staples mean less metal waste, and less energy used manufacturing staples.  This stapler punches a small incision into your paper making a flap that you tuck and fold into itself to secure your paper with no staple needed.  It comes in multiple colors, and even has environmentally friendly packaging, but it is only good for stapling a few sheets at a time.  Pretty small impact on the environment I’m sure, but its a cool concept, and it certainly eliminates a little bit of waste.  I think this is actually one of the first green office supplies that I ever bought. (buy, or buy one that looks like a cat or that looks like a dog too)

Ecosystem Journals:

These environmentally friendly journals and notebooks from Ecosystem are really well put together and also made right here in the USA.  You have a few choices of paper type including blank, ruled, grid, and there are also planner/calendar versions.  The brightly colored covers (except for black) look great, and the high quality recycled paper inside handles most inks really well, including the fountain pens I tested on them.  If you need a new notebook, journal, or planner that is environmentally friendly, this is one of the best ones you are going to find, and quite possibly one of the best green office supplies out there. (buy)

O’BON Newspaper Pencils:

These pencils from O’BON look like your average ordinary pencils on the surface, but they are actually made of old newspapers.  If you click on the link for the review, you can see some closer photos of how this works.  Basically the pencil body is made up of what looks like tightly rolled sheets of newspaper to form a sturdy and hard pencil body that eliminates the need to cut down any trees, and puts some of those old newspapers to work somewhere besides the bottom of your bird-cage. (buy)

Paper Mate Biodegradable Pen:

The Paper Mate Biodegradable pen is a great pen for the every day user who is concerned about all of the waste created by our over reliance on plastic.  The main components of the pen are made from materials that are biodegradable when placed in soil or compost.  In addition to being earth friendly, these pens are also good-looking, comfortable to write with, and even write pretty nicely as far as ballpoint pens go. These come in black, blue, and red, and there are even mechanical pencil versions available if lead is your preference when writing. (buy)

Biodegradable 3 Ring Binders:

Just did a full review on this yesterday, but the Earth’s Choice Biodegradable 3 Ring Binders from Samsill are definitely worth mentioning again.  The body of these binders are made from 50% recycled materials, and they also biodegrade in about five years, as compared to the hundreds of years it takes for typical plastic binders to break down.  In addition to the covers being biodegradable, you can also easily remove and swap out the metal component that makes up the rings for this binder because instead of being permanently locked in place with rivets, there are screwed in for easy removal.  I’ve seen a horrifying number of 3 ring binders thrown away in my days working in offices, I wish these biodegradable binders were around back then because if they were, they wouldn’t still be around today. (buy)

So thats it, those are my choices for some green office supplies to make your office environmentally friendly.  Hope you enjoy this Earth Day and do a little something to make the earth a better place so that someone else has the opportunity to ruin it later.