CAN you write with a bottle?

If you have one of Pilot’s range of ball point, gel, and soda pens made from used water bottles, you can.

Pilot Corporation of America has, since Earth Day, April 22, 2012, been manufacturing and distributing its Bottle 2 Pen (B2P) products, helping to alleviate what is arguably one of the world’s biggest polluters — non-biodegradable plastics.

The move towards recycled pens follows its sister company Pilot Corporation of Europe, which up to yesterday had recycled 6,319,395 bottles since 2008, according to its website.

Pilot Corporation didn’t supply numbers when asked how well the recycled pens were performing on the market, compared to its other brands, but its website ranked the line second in its top collections, a category headed by Frixion Ball and rounded out by Acroball, V5 and Capless.

“The B2P is a very popular pen that has been well received by consumers. The line continues to grow with the introduction of B2P Colors Gel line,” the company told the Jamaica Osberver through public relations firm Bright Red/TBWA.

One used bottle makes two pens, the barrels of which look and feel like water bottles.

Asked what was its inspiration, the company said it was the astronomical number of water bottles that are used and dumped every day.

“Approximately 2.5 million plastic bottles enter landfills every hour in the United States, and comprise close to 50 per cent of all recyclable waste. Enough plastic bottles are thrown away each year in the United States to circle the world four times. For every two B2P pens made, there’s one less plastic bottle headed to a landfill,” the company said.

In a statement realised at the time of the launch, Director of Consumer Marketing and Marketing Research Ariann Langsam said: “It’s our shared responsibility to be good stewards to the planet and to protect the environment. Making an effort to leave greener footprints behind have to be incorporated into our everyday choices.

“Pilot’s B2P line of pens give consumers the opportunity to use a writing instrument that positively impacts the next generation.”

B2P is the world’s first pen made from recycled bottles, the company maintains. It does, however, have other Earth-friendly products, including the VBoard Master Whiteboard Markers, which is made up of 91 per cent recycled content and is refillable up to four times. There is also the Twin Marker, and the RexGrip line of mechanical pencils, among others.

B2P is made from 89 per cent and 83 per cent post-consumer recycled plastic and is available in the US in gel ink, ball point and colours. In Europe, B2P Soda, is also on the market. B2P Colours is available in seven different colours — black, turquoise, lime, green, orange, pink and purple, while B2P Gel Ink pens and B2P Ball Point are available in black, blue, red, purple and green. They are retractable, refillable, and retail for about US$4 per two-pack.

“Pens are not only great writing instruments, but also as practical examples of what can be produced from the goods we throw away each day,” Pilot said.

Promotional material for the line hails Pilot for “turn(ing) trash into treasure, reduc(ing) landfill waste, encourag(ing) recycling,” and “transforming an environmental menace into an eco-friendly hero…for a lifetime of beautiful, effortless writing with a clear conscience”.

Pilot Corporation, which is headquartered in Japan, is the parent company of the outifits in Europe and America.