…judging from the pile of almost-used-up pencils we found while cleaning out the bin (Katy would be proud!).
Most of these are so short, it’s nigh onto impossible to sharpen them. We’ll use them up to the best of our ability, of course, but a lot of them are about done. Can you compost pencils? (I assume pencil shavings are compostable.)
Incidentally, I think pencils look sort of cool in black and white (in case you had ever wondered about that).
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LOL that is too funny!
Would they be compostable? Kristen, I’m thinking not of the wood, which certainly is, but the lead… I am not an expert in compost at all but I don’t think I would put pencil shavings into my compost. Perhaps you can find something about it on the ‘Net.
Maybe you could make some art, like a picture frame or something or sharpen them down into shavings and do some type of art with those. Just thinking out loud. I second the ‘no compost’ because of the lead.
Pencil ‘lead’ is made from graphite and clay, not actual lead, at least not anymore. So it wouldn’t harm your compost or soil, but I don’t know that they would rot down very fast.
Pencils contain graphite nowadays, not lead, which is fine to compost.
I compost the shavings from our pencil sharpener, as pencils are made with graphite, not lead.
I noticed how many pencils still had erasers on them, which is the complete opposite from the pencils that litter my house. My kids are always complaining about the lack of intact pencils, but I’m somehow always able to find another handful from the recesses of desk drawers. I’m at the point where might actually be a pencil fairy that visits my house.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
They could get a bit more use out of them if they use one of those tiny plastic pencil sharpeners. After that, you’re stuck. And you can’t even melt them down into new pencils, like you can with crayons. Maybe use them as building logs?
While we’re on the subject of tiny pencils, has anyone ever wondered what happens to golf pencils? Do they ever get sharpened or are they thrown out when the first tip wears down? If so, ouch!
Huh? I never knew that about pencil ‘lead’. Learn something new everyday, thanks
I found this list very interesting – 75 things you didn’t know you could compost.
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/surprising-compost-items.html
They say you can compost the shavings, so I don’t see why you couldn’t remove the eraser and metal thingy, sharpen it down to just shavings, and compost it.
Neat list! I used it as a quiz. I did pretty well – didn’t know about celephane, cork, or, ahem, latex. There are things on the list I would shy away from:
- Ashes: first, they have to be from 100% wood fires, no commercial briquettes or self-starters (both contain petroleum products, which do not decompose in the human lifetime). Second, ashes are strongly alkaline and the alkalinity persists, so it could throw off the soil’s chemistry and mess up your growing medium. Remember, though, that it’s all about relative amounts. A cup or two of ashes won’t ruin a cubic yard of compost. On the other hand, there are many places in North America where the soil is too acid for many plants and so ashes are the perfect addition. To find out contact your local State Extention Office for more info on soil tests.
- Hair and nail clippings. The don’t do any harm but they take years to decompose in a cold pile and, if you have long hair, the hair can get caught in your rake or whatever. No biggie either way but give the small volume involved I opt for the convenience of the trash can. YMMV.
- Vacuum cleaner dirt and dryer lint. Artificial materials, like polyester, don’t decompose on a human timescale. FYI, rayon is a natural material, made from celuose. I hear it decomposes like hair – eventually!
The b&w picture reminds me of the opening sequence of To Kill A Mockingbird.
I love me that movie.
I’ve read the book, but never seen the movie! It was an unintentional imitation. lol
http://reubenmiller.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/01/jennifer-maestr.html?cid=97761910
This woman makes sculptures (and sells them for big bucks!) from pencil stubs. Very cool.
Those sculptures are fantastic! Thanks for posting the link, staciokas. Really amazing stuff.
Kristen, think the kiddos are up for something like that? It would be quite a project!
Those are crazy! We all enjoyed looking at them, but I’m not sure I want a sharp and pointy piece of art hanging around my house. lol Plus, I don’t think we could make anything nearly as cool-looking.
I would glue them onto a picture frame and make a cool teacher’s gift.
But Kristen is the teacher, so she’d still be stuck with them.
Katy
That is true! lol My kids already give me plenty of homemade gifts.
Our local miniature golf place sharpened the pencils with a plastic sharpener.
You could use them as a teaching tool – make a list of all the ways they could be used would reinforce thinking out of the box; measuring them would teach fractions of inches; cut off the pointy end and use them as erasers sticks until used up then as craft items; to compost you might want to cut them in smaller pieces then bury them in the garden (after cutting off the metal and eraser); take a glass gallon jar, partially fill with dirt, insert pencils along the outside of the jar,either whole, ends cut off, in pieces, completely fill with dirt and water well, then set aside to see how long it takes the pencils to decompose – probably longer than the kids or your interest lasts; keep them to use as carpenter’s pencils; I’m sure there a lot more ideas besides crafts but it’s supper time, I’m hungry and my brain is not functioning well.
Just goes to show that you are teaching them well.
You should frame the BW version and hang it in a kids area of the house. Very cool.
I love pencil stubs! There’s something so satisfying about a thoroughly used-up pencil or pencil crayon. It’s kind of sad as well, especially when you run out of your favorite color.
Kristen
here’s a tip I saw on Thai TV recently.. you can wrap them up with pieces of paper(used of course), maybe not as hard as a cardboard but good enough to elongate the pencils and give them shape and make them sturdy enough to hold while writing! 
The folks at Unclutterer would call it a unitasker but how about pencil extenders. That way you can use 100% of the pencil. http://www.pencilrevolution.com/2006/05/kutsuwa-pencil-extenders/
Yeah, it’s a bit pennywise and pound foolish but still neat. I think the actual use are for artist or specialty pencils. School supplies are so cheap in August/September that they may as well be free (and some are) so I can’t think of a time I was ever without a pencil or pen.
I used to LOVE to use pencils to oblivion when I was a kid. There was something so fun about trying to write with a stub you could barely hold. Although I think I also spent a lot of time a the back of the class using our fascinating electric pencil sharpener… so it probably wasn’t spurred on by any abhorrence of wastefulness in my 4th grade psyche.
You could use pencil extenders – just google them, but they are metal tubes you can insert your pencils to extend their length. My mum uses them and she will use them until the pencils are 2cm short!
Those ideas are great. I like the idea of the extender or maybe a homemade one. The black and white picture gave me an idea. (It might be short lived but would work for the younger girls.) Print out the black and white photo 100% and let the girls place the actual pencil on the B&W copy like a puzzle. It isn’t very educational but is a good time waster and you could turn it into a competition for time or a treat.
When I was in school, it was cool to have a pencil you could hardly write with. I don’t know why, it just was.
I just discovered your blog today and feel like I’ve met my long lost sister. Anyway, I just read in an organic gardening magazine that pencil shavings are good for keeping insect pests off of your outdoor plants. I believe it said because the wood is made from cedar, a natural repellant. Just sprinkle your pencil shavings in a circle around the plant. I wonder if this would work with whole pencil stubs?
The preschool teacher at my school asked my 4th graders to give her their shorts. I have them trade them in for new pencils. The pre -K teacher has some program called “Handwriting Without Tears” that requires short pencils for little fingers. I’ve never taught that age, but maybe the short ones are more easily manipulated by little people.