Most notebooks are made from virgin paper (new paper from cutting down trees). Although FSC-certified paper is better (guaranteed not from rainforests), this is usually still from mono-plantations that plant millions of saplings (which are grown using chemicals and don’t support native wildlife). The choices below instead use up recycled paper to create beautiful alternatives that also help to use up waste. This recycled notebook is nice, use with an eco-friendly pen.
handmade dung notebooks to help elephants!
Paper High elephant dung notebooks contain real elephant dung, collected by locals to give income, to help protect these giant beasts. And mixed with recycled paper. The pages are unlined, and the notebooks sold in 5 colours.
post-consumer recycled notebooks from Kent
PortWestLDN is a quality brand of recycled paper notebooks. Unlike most ‘recycled paper’, these really are made from post-consumer waste to save trees. Although ‘sustainable paper’ uses fast-growing saplings, these often use chemicals (and sometimes replace old-growth forests that are home to native wildlife, which fast-growing trees don’t really support).
The perfect-bound A5 journals are made from a blend of post-consumer recycled paper with other upcycled materials like coffee cups. Lovingly made in Kent, they also feature a handy grosgrain page marker. Choose from 192 lined or dotted pages. Made using green energy.
Beautifully crafted and naturally-dyed, these make great additions to your office, or good sustainable gifts. Everyone could do with a beautiful book to write notes in, whether it’s to-do lists, accounting or journaling. The company also offers ‘second’ notebooks for a little discount, due to minor blemishes due to transport or storage (usually little things like faint cover scratches, unevenly rounded corners or the odd print misalignment).
The recycled sketch pads are wirebound and feature heavy recycled card and inside recycled paper, with non-plastic coated recycled metal wire (85 blank pages).
notebooks made from unusual waste materials
Vent 4 Change is a company that makes many notebooks made from recycled waste materials (we don’t list their recycled leather items, as it could encourage a market). But the following notebooks are beautifully made and use up unusual waste materials, with page markers made from corn pulp:
recycled paper recipe organiser book
This recipe organiser is printed on recycled paper using green energy, and sent in plastic-free packaging. The wire-bound organiser is ideal to jotting down your vegan recipes.
The A5 size includes handy cooking conversions, a build-your-own-index page and 51 double-spread recipe pages. The book lays flat (perfect for lefties) and has a fun illustrated vine tomato cover, along with colourful inside design.
office accessories made from elephant dung!
All of these beautiful colourful office accessories are made from a blend of recycled paper & elephant dung! Elephants eat the equivalent of us eating over 300 cans of beans a day, so produce a lot of dung! On a serious note, lack of habitat has meant that elephants end up veering into local villages, and in the past have been shot dead as they trample or eat crops. So paying local people to collect dung, means they see elephants as opportunities for income, so helps to save critically endangered elephants. Sold alongside matching greetings cards & photo albums/frames.
These beautifully designed office accessories are handmade by an elephant conservation trust in Sri Lanka, with unique flecks, dependent on what your elephant friend ate that day! The range includes:
- Writing sets (10 sheets of A5 paper & 5 ungummed elephants, tuck the flap inside or use paper tape to secure).
- Note holders (ideal to keep by the phone, with 60 different coloured pages, using natural dyes).
- Unlined A5 notebooks (in 5 colours), also in A6 size
Use with plastic-free ballpoint biros (made from recycled newspaper, just soak in hot water for a few minutes to unravel the paper shaft, then recycle the stainless steel ink chamber). Keep pens & pencils away from young children & pets.
neutral design elephant dung office accessories
If you prefer more neutral colours, the same company offers naturally cream elephant dung office accessories, adorned with beautiful brass elephants:
