I have a thing for beautiful paper goods: simply bound notebooks, a well laid-out planner, pocket-sized journals. And, going on year three of working from home, my home office could use a bit of a pick-me-up.
Enter Wisdom Supply Co., a California-based purveyor of well-designed, appealingly simple notebooks, calendars, planners, pencil cases, and writing instruments. Even better, everything is low-waste, “recyclable, repairable, and reusable.” The company began when founder (and plastic waste activist) Heather Itzla noticed how much waste back-to-school shopping produced each year in the way of plastic binders, spiral-bound notebooks that can’t be recycled, and bound-for-the-landfill pencil cases.
And so Itzla and her co-founder, Nicole Kozlowski, an environmentalist and ocean advocate committed to reducing disposable culture, started Wisdom Supply Co., named after the world’s oldest known bird. Their mantra? “Waste is a design flaw.”
All of Wisdom’s low-waste office and school supplies are affordably priced, too. Take a look at a few of the offerings:
Above: The Zero-Waste Weekly Planner ($28) was designed in consultation with Kozlowski and Itzla’s local waste haulers, with dye-free covers woven from sustainable materials like straw, hemp, and recycled denim and cotton. Unlike most planners and notebooks, each one is “cover-to-cover recyclable.” Above: Optional: a cheeky Weekly Planner Gift Band ($1). According to the product description: “When purchasing a Zero-Waste Weekly Planner for oneself, this is an unnecessary slip of thick cardstock printed with information you already know. It would be silly to purchase it. On the other hand, if you are giving the planner as a gift, it is a useful bit of gift wrap that explains to the recipient what the product and our company are all about.” Above: The company’s precise attention to detail yields both eco-conscious and appealing office accessories. For example: The Zero-Waste Pencil Tin Set ($16.25) includes a 100 percent recyclable aluminum case, compostable wool liner (or “husher”) to keep the contents from rattling around, a wax highlighter (in lieu of a plastic one), and a paint-free pencil (paint is plastic, the company explains, and bits of plastic are shed when a painted pencil is sharpened). Above: The Zero-Waste Binder Kit ($14.75) is, the company says, the only one of its kind on the market, a replacement for vinyl versions, which never degrade in landfills: “Every vinyl binder ever made still exists in some form,” they say. This binder comes disassembled to emphasize that the cover can be replaced when it’s worn down. “Cardboard binders without replaceable covers are considered ‘mixed materials waste’ and are destined for landfill,” the company adds.
Above: The founders noticed, while sorting through refuse after yearly locker clean-outs, how many spiral-bound (non-recyclable) and plastic-covered notebooks were being tossed, many of them having barely been used. According to their calculations: “A classroom of 20 students; four comp books/student/year; average # of unused sheets/notebook: 50; 4000 sheets/classroom = 1/3 of a tree = a giant carbon footprint for no good reason.” Enter their No-Waste Notebooks ($5.75), which are 100 percent recyclable and made in Northern California. Above: A set of two Unpainted Jumbo Pencils—plus natural rubber eraser and metal pencil sharpener—is $9.50. Bonus: The pencils are triangular, so they won’t roll off your desk.
N.B. This post was originally published on The Organized Home; see it here.
This error message is only visible to WordPress admins
Error: No connected account.
Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to connect an account.
v5.0
×
Join the Remodelista Family of Websites
Become a Member at no charge
When you register as a free Member of the Remodelista family of websites (Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home), you gain access to all current posts plus 10 archived posts per month, our internal bookmarking tool, and the community bulletin board.
Access 10 archived posts (older than one year) per month on each site
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Unlimited access to the Product Catalogs, Design Travel sources, and Architect & Designer Directory listings
Choose from our ten newsletters to keep up with the latest on the sites
Or Subscribe for Maximum Value!
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Annual subscribers pay 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
×
Subscribe to the Remodelista family of websites
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Annual subscribers pay 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
×
Sorry! As a registered member you get 10 free posts from our archive (posts more than a year old) every 30 days. You have reached your limit for this 30-day period. If you would like to access unlimited posts from the archive (ad free, too), become a subscriber today, and keep reading as many articles as you want.
Full Access Individual Subscription
Benefits include:
Unlimited access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home sites
Ad-free browsing environment
Unrestricted access to 30,000+ archived posts
Receive the full-text daily newsletters
All features that Members have access to
Annual subscribers pay just 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
Sorry! You have reached your limit of three (3) free posts from our archive every 30 days. You can increase this to 10 posts by joining as a free Member, or read unlimited posts with no ads by becoming a paid Subscriber.
Subscribe to the Remodelista family of websites
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Annual subscribers pay 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
Become a Member at no charge
When you register as a free Member of the Remodelista family of websites (Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home), you gain access to all current posts plus 10 archived posts per month, our internal bookmarking tool, and the community bulletin board.
Congratulations on becoming a Subscriber to Remodelista, Gardenista and The Organized Home! You now have access to many great features across the sites:
Unlimited access to all three sites
Ad-free browsing environment
Unrestricted access to 30,000+ archived posts
Receive any of the newsletters, including the the full-text daily Remodelista and Gardenista newsletters
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Congratulations on joining as a free Member of Remodelista, Gardenista and The Organized Home! You now have access to many great features across the sites:
Access to all posts published in the past year
Access 10 archived posts (older than one year) per month on each site
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Unlimited access to the Product Catalogs, Design Travel sources, and Architect & Designer Directory listings
Choose from our ten newsletters to keep up with the latest on the sites
If at any time you want to become a Subscriber and enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to all our content, just go to the My Account link and choose Subscribe.
Have a Question or Comment About This Post?
Join the conversation