Pilot Pen Australia has launched a new initiative to encourage Australian businesses to change the habit of a lifetime by switching from binning to refilling their pens by trialling an innovative eco pen pack for free.

“We are inviting Australian businesses to join us in a national refilling trial so we can all work together to reduce the estimated 2.6 million tonnes of plastic waste that gets thrown into landfill each year. If we can refill water and coffee cups, then why not pens?” said Jarrad Murray, head of marketing, Pilot Pen Australia.

All businesses across Australia are invited to take part in the trial by visiting pilotpen.com.au/ecopack or emailing: sustainable@pilotpen.com.au.  Everyone who registers will receive a free Eco Pack of pens and refills. 

“The trial will help us understand what office workers are doing with their plastic pens on a day-to-day basis and will help us work towards developing solutions down the track,” said Jarrad.

The Eco Pack contains twelve refillable pens made from recycled materials, each in a paper pouch with three refills that can be placed on a desk or workstation so workers can simply grab a refill, rather than automatically throw their used pen in the bin. 

“We are hoping by placing it in a visible, accessible spot, it will help prompt employees to think before they throw,” said Jarrad.

According to the government’s National Waste Report 2022, business and commercial waste contributed to around half of all plastic waste in Australia last year and just 13 per cent of this was  reused, recycled, or used for energy recovery – the lowest recovery rate of all types of waste.

Made from FSG certified recycled packaging and printed with vegetable-based biodegradable ink, each Pilot Pen Eco Pack is equivalent to 48 pens which represent a cost saving of 52 per cent and a 67 per cent reduction in plastic waste (compared with 48 individual equivalent pens).

“Recycling has its place, however re-filling is higher up on the waste prevention hierarchy as it’s about avoiding plastic waste by extending the life of a product. We are hoping our initiative will help office workers adopt a ‘refilling’ mind-set when it comes to office supplies,” said Jarrad Murray.

This announcement comes ahead of World Refill Day, a global public awareness campaign on Friday June 16 designed to accelerate the transition away from single-use plastic and towards reuse systems. Pilot Pen is the largest pen manufacturer in Japan and has subsidiaries throughout the world, including Australia.  For further information, visit: www.pilotpen.com.au.