Brand Spotlight: Sprout Pencil Bringing Sustainability Awareness

Every year, we are met with new, innovative ideas that are not only designed to bring revenue, but ones that are also designed with the environment in mind. Such ideas and products play an important role in the shaping of both the market and the consumers’ minds towards a sustainable way of living. One such product is the Sprout pencil, which you can plant.

Yes, you read that right. Sprout’s pencils can be planted after you’ve used them. With the right care, they grow into herbs, flowers, vegetables, and even spruce trees. However, the idea behind this unique product has very little to do with striving for originality and visibility on the market; rather, the idea is to highlight the small changes one can make in their everyday life to live a more sustainable lifestyle. With this, the Sprout pencil takes a step on the path to zero waste living, encouraging people to consider the full life cycle of anything and everything they use. Recently, the company has designed yet another sustainable product – a makeup pencil you can plant after using as well – that has garnered an immense amount of positive media coverage, with one world-leading publication calling the Sprout makeup pencil “the future of sustainable makeup”.

But how did all of this come about?

The start of Sprout dates back to 2013, when a group of students developed the very first pencil with a seed capsule that could be planted when it became too small to write with. They presented the project on Kickstarter, where Michael Stausholm, finder and CEO, discovered it and bought the rights to sell the pencil in Europe. After selling 70,000 pieces in Denmark alone, Stausholm decided to buy the patent and rights outright. The rest is history, with the company having sold more than 40 million Sprout pencils to date. Since Sprout was first founded, numerous variations of the product have been developed, including ones carrying seeds of different types of flowers, vegetables, herbs, and even spruce trees!

Sustainability

And while the company has expanded greatly, their core values and beliefs have stayed the same, working hard to ensure that operations at Sprout World remain as sustainable as possible. Their main goal is to show people that sustainability is tangible for everyone by using simple solutions that turn their goal into reality.

Consumers love to work with brands that truly care about the environment and work toward creating a sustainable future. At Sprout, they believe that there’s no better way to communicate your support for sustainability than through using simple products that inspire green change. By using Sprout pencils as your promotional gifts, you too can make sustainability an integral part of your business model, as these products tell the story of a circular economy, with analysis following every step of their journey from production to use and reuse at the end of their lives. With this, Sprout ensures as little negative environmental impact as possible.

Sprout urges everyone to take action to reduce carbon emissions and work towards building a sustainable business, all while inspiring other companies to do the same. At Sprout, they’re aiming further than becoming carbon neutral; by 2024, their goal is for the company to become carbon negative!

“We want to make sustainable actions manageable and tangible for everyone” Michael Stausholm, Sprout CEO

As for planting the Sprout pencil, it’s very little hassle. All you have to do is find a pot with a drainage hole in the bottom, place it on a saucer, and fill with moist potting soil, before planting the pencil at a 30-degree angle with only the seed capsule covered in soil. All that’s left to do is to water the pencil so that the soil remains wet. Place the pot in natural light but avoid direct sunlight; within 1-4 weeks, fresh plants will sprout.

The company’s certifications

At Sprout, they’re big on certifications, as they believe this helps consumers to make informed purchases. Once a product has been certified (which Sprout has been numerous times over the years) you can be certain that the product is safe and reliable; it vouches for high quality of the product on the market and helps clients find the most suitable manufacturer.

Here’s how they explain it on their website:

“At Sprout, product certification demonstrates our commitment to quality and safety and affirms that our products have passed specific performance and quality assurance tests. The availability of low-cost, counterfeit – quick-to-market products is increasing, making it more important than ever to affirm product certification. For you as a consumer, product certification is one of the best tools to tell the quality from the questionable or reliable from the risky.”

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a reliable, high quality promotional or corporate gift, the Sprout pencil is the perfect choice. Not only is it versatile – it can be given out at conferences, business meetings or as a promotional gift to clients – but it also advocates for a greener future. It is one of our favourite sustainable products for countless reasons, the main one being the beautiful personalisation styles you can choose from when buying the pencil – you can either engrave your company or client’s name, or opt for a personalised message.