This Sprout Pencil Grows into a Tomato

Plantable Sprout Pencils – Grow into Vegetables/Flowering Plants/Herbs

Denmark based Sprout World has plans in eliminating waste from pencil stubs that are thrown away, which are not of much use and are tossed into the bin. According to CEO of Sprout World, Michael Stausholm, around 15 billion pencils are made every year with three million of them just in United States and these could be a good amount of them being thrown away.

The start-up tends to make plantable pencils which can grow into vegetables, flowering plants or herbs when it is not useful anymore. Stausholm stated that the pencils which are made from cedar in Pine City, Minnesota seem to be the perfect ecological product since one `dying product tends to give life to a new product.

Where an eraser would be, the wooden pencils tend to have a capsule which is made from biodegradable substance which comprises of a small combination of seeds and peat. The stub end of the pencil is used as a marker and the capsule is planted in pot of soil, which tends to dissolve and seed grows into a plant. These pencils are in a range of 14 varieties at a cost of $19.95 for a pack of eight which comprise of basil, green pepper, lavender, sunflower and tomato and had been developed by three MIT students in 2012.

Sprout Pencils – Kickstarter Campaign

Stausholm informed that while he was living in Denmark, he worked a lot on sustainable companies. However sustainability was hard to illustrate to consumers and he was searching for product which could do that easily. A year thereafter, he came across Sprout Pencils when it was a Kickstarter campaign.

He valued the idea and it was an appropriate way of explaining what sustainability was all about. He partnered with the students convincing them to permit him to sell the pencils in Denmark. He stated that around 70,000 pencils were sold in the spring of 2013 and realized that there was demand for them. The start-up had sold around a million pencils all across Europe by 2014.

He acquired the patents and rights to the brand later that year and became the CEO of Sprout World. He informed that Sprout World presently sells on an average around 450,000 pencils monthly and has logged more than $3 million by way of revenue.

Mission – Educate What to Purchase/Product Reusable

His next ambition is to overcome the U.S. market. In September, he had opened an office in Boston to get drive going with two employees there and 15 in Europe. He stated that with regards to embracing eco-friendliness, America is a couple of years behind Europe.

However he is of the belief that it is an impeccable market for Sprout World pencils since its makers are based in the U.S. The pencils are sold on Amazon – AMZN, Tech30 and in Whole Foods – WFM stores in U.S. Stausholm is keen in bringing the price down and eventually he would want all students across the globe to use Sprout World pencils.

The start-up plans are likely to roll out new products which include plantable greeting cards and coloured pencils in January. He had commented that he is aware that they cannot save the planet just with his product but their mission is to educate people on how to be more aware in what they purchase and look for products which are reusable.