This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of ProformaGreen, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy. John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.
What do you get when you combine recycled newspapers, #2 graphite and the breezy scent of bubble gum. Well of course that would be a Smencil.
Smencil brand pencils are one of the best ideas we have seen for getting kids and teens excited about recycling and thinking green. They are very easy to understand and the kids love them.
Smencils start as old newspaper tightly rolled around a #2 graphite writing core until pencils of typical thickness are formed. Then they’re hardened – allowing them to be sharpened just like wood pencils.
Next they are soak with gourmet liquid scents and once dried the erasers are attached and stickers are applied around each unit to identify which scent was infused into each Smencil.
Lastly, each Smencil is put into its own Freshness Tube. Scents are guaranteed to last up to two years, in or out or their tubes.
For the promotional items industry, custom Smencils come in buckets of 50 (5 each of the 10 scents) but your can get your own directly from the company at http://www.smencils.com/ without logo.
Again I think Smencils are great (at the 2008 City of Plano Green Expo they handed out 500 units in less than 90 minutes, such was the demand from the crowd). However, this young company currently has two flaws that we can see.
First – again currently – the logos are placed on the Smencils with stickers, not written into the material like traditional wooden pencils would be branded. Smencils is working on a method of branding the units, but no word yet.
Second, the Freshness Tube seems to be a bit of overkill and not particularly eco-friendly. We would like to see the Smencil packaged in a more green material, perhaps a simple wrap in recycled paper or a cigar like tube made from recycled cardboard. Of course you can always ask that your custom Smencils be shipped without their tubes.
For more on Smencils vist their website www.smencils.com or contact us at www.proformagreen.com.
I recently purchased smencils for my six year old and he loves them. I love that they are made from recycled newspaper. If you are going to a birthday party this would be a good gift.
What are the tubes made out of? Seems like any benefit of the smencil might be outweighed by what on the surface appears to be pretty wasteful packaging. One smencil per tube?
It’s great these pencils are recycled, I agree-excessive packaging for a “green” product. I’m so surprised that not one parent is concerned with what their kids are sniffing from these pencils, which are made in CHINA!! Keep your recycled product, I don’t feel something soaked in a scent, dried and made into pencils are acceptable. They are deemed safe for “reasonable personal use as established by the manufacturer”, ask yourself, who’s deeming them safe…China?, with all their recalls, NO THANKS!. Let’s think about it.
what company created smenclis? and where were the first smenclis created?
I got some more info from the company. Here is there response to the questions asked.
Smencils are manufactured in China, using recycled Chinese newspapers. They are made with 100% recycled newspaper and currently the tubes are made with a number 3 plastic, which is recyclable in certain cities.
We have new tubes coming out in January, which will be made with a new more eco friendly biodegradable plastic. The new biodegradable plastic is made using corn products.
Sincerely,
Jennifer M.
The Smencil Company
6160 Fairmount Avenue, Suite I
San Diego, CA 92120
Toll Free: 1-866-SMENCILS (763-6245)
http://www.smencils.com
hurry! i kneed to know who made smenclis! tell me if ya get a chance
My son’s Gifted class is selling them as a fund-raiser to help children in East Africa. They are an absolute hit- we sell them as soon as they are put on the table. The kids LOVE them!
Hi ,
Can I know who made the 1st smencil and when it was made?
Thank you !
P.S. I’d love it if you could make this fast ! I need it for school.
Alicia, try calling the company:
The Smencil Company
8640 Argent St.
Santee, CA 92071
Ph:619-582-9900
Fx:619-582-4500
Mon-Fri 8:00am – 4:00pm Pacific Time
1-866-SMENCILS (763-6245)
Good luck!
I knew that there is plastic pencil, which is made of plastic. But smencils seem a good product because there is another way to use old newspapers. I wonder if this kind of pencil will be as good as the ordinary pencil because plastic pencils are not very strong to write. Anyway, I am glad that the company, which manufactures smencils, have international distributorship.
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