At the beginning of the year The Pilot Pen Company (UK) Ltd were delighted to announce its continued environmental commitment by partnering up with the Marine Conservation Society. The UK’s leading ocean charity fights for cleaner, better-protected seas through working with government, industry and education.
For Pilot, this partnership is part of a real ongoing environmental policy. In 2006, the brand launched its Begreen range of pens which are all made from a minimum of 70% from recycled plastic.
In 2009, it was the turn of B2P (Bottle to Pen) to enter the market, a pen made of recycled bottles. And, in 2021, for the first time in the world, the B2P range went one step further in the “From bottle to pen” logic, as part of its composition, the pens would now include 2.5% plastic waste recovered from oceans and beaches.
Starting in January 2023 The Pilot Pen Company (UK) Ltd committed to making a donation of 5p from the sale of every B2P Gel rollerball and B2P Ecoball across all business channels to the Marine Conservation Society. Both pens are refillable, and made of at least 89% recycled plastic bottles, of which 2.5% are recycled ocean plastic. To date Pilot have donated over £10,000 to the charity.
“We’re proud to be partnering with the Marine Conservation Society with both our B2P pens and Begreen range. We hope the contribution made through sales will go towards aiding the charity in its amazing work, from beach cleans through to their education programmes.” Said Adam Smith, Marketing Manager at Pilot Pen.
At the start of September 2023, a dedicated team from Pilot Pen UK took part in their first collaborative beach clean in Southend-on-Sea. In just one hour, along a 100m stretch of shoreline, they collected 1665 items, with 71% being plastic and polystyrene
85% of the Pilot Begreen writing instruments are refillable and using a refill when the ink runs out, rather than an entire new pen reduces the amount of single-use plastics in daily life.
Refilling a pen also brings a reduction in greenhouse gases as manufacturing an entire pen produces more CO2 than just a refill. Since 2010, Pilot have reduced quantities of virgin plastic by over 80% by using recycled plastic and FSC-certified cardboard and the Begreen range is available with 100% recyclable cardboard packaging.