The Writing Instruments Free Recycling Programme
All brands accepted
Recycle your writing instruments at an existing public drop-off point.
Felt tips, whiteboard and permanent markers
Highlighters
Correction instruments (bottles, tapes and pens)
Pens, mechanical pencils and refills
Drop off your recycling at a location near you
Bring your recycling to a participating drop-off point near you. It's free, and you won't need a TerraCycle account or shipping label.
How it works
When you bring your waste to a BIC® Community Champion location, only the person in charge of it will receive TerraCycle points and will be able to redeem them for the school, charity or non-profit of their choice.
Today a pen, tomorrow a bench!
Get Started
Starting and managing a TerraCycle public drop-off point is easy and free! See answers to frequently-asked questions here. Can’t find the answer to your question on this page? Learn more about becoming a drop-off point.
Please note that this programme is currently full.
Accepted waste: all brands of writing instruments, whether in plastic or metal - pen, felt tip, highlighter, marker, correction fluid pot or tape, mechanical pencil and eraser pen (cap included).
Waste that is NOT accepted: wooden pencils, glue sticks, rubbers, rulers, chalk sticks or cutting objects.
Check the full list and download the accepted waste poster here.
Please note that the programme is currently full so you cannot set up your own drop-off point.
We encourage you to join the waitlist.
In the meantime, please drop off the accepted waste at an existing drop-off location.
You choose which TerraCycle free recycling programmes your drop-off point will participate in. Collectors can drop off only the waste accepted in those TerraCycle programmes.
No - unfortunately we do not have any boxes available for this programme.
Earn Recycling Rewards
Thanks to the recycling efforts of TerraCyclers like you, we've raised millions globally for schools, charities, and other nonprofits through our recycling programmes.
Click here to learn more about our Recycling Rewards Programme.
1. Recycle
Please note the programme is currently full. To recycle your writing instruments, please drop off your writing instruments at your nearest BIC® Community Champion (public drop-off location).
2. Earn Rewards
Drop-off administrators earn all of the points for the waste collected at their location! Shipments earn 100 points per kilogram. To earn points, the minimum weight of each shipment must be 15 kilograms.
3. Redeem Rewards
TerraCycle points can be redeemed for a donation of £0.01 per point. Location administrators get to choose which charities or schools to support with the points earned.
Discover Our Recycling Process
Once collected, the writing instruments are cleaned and separated by material type. The fibres and plastics are recycled into raw formats that manufacturers use to make new products.
Click here to take a virtual tour of our processing facilities.
LEARN MORE ABOUT BIC®
Did you know that with a BIC® Cristal® pen that only weighs 5.8 g, you could write for 3km? Along with several other BIC® writing and colouring instruments the BIC® Cristal® pen received the NF Environment Mark (NF 400) which rewards the best products in terms of quality and environmental impact.