Most of these pens are made from 90%+ recycled materials and they are refillable. (Photo: JetPens.com)

I have a few really special things of my dad’s. One of them is a silver pen that I use to sign significant contracts and write meaningful notes. Oddly, in the 13 years since he’s been gone, it’s never run dry. I take that as a good sign.

But every single other pen in the universe does run out, it seems, within a few short weeks or months. In fact, Americans throw out 1.6B pens each year.

That’s why I really like the idea behind JetPens, a company that specializes in refillable pens of every variety (markers, highlighters, ballpoints, calligraphy, etc.), many of which are made from recycled materials, such as the Pilot Petball ballpoint pen, the whiteboard marker, and the Optex 1 EZ highlighter. Not only that, but they come with refills, so you’ll never again have to toss a perfectly good instrument away again.

I know that a gigantic glacier cracked off Antarctica and that we’re much closer to mass species annihilation than we thought. Maybe one pen won’t make a huge difference. But maybe billions will as we start thinking about the gigantic mess we’re leaving behind.