This is the very latest in cool green gadgets. Only just available to purchase now, these versatile solar bulbs made waves when they were unveiled at the beginning of the year. The bulbs are LED lamps that are charged by solar power during the day. At night you just slot the bulb into the neck of any standard plastic bottle to have six hours of continuous lighting.

The plastic bottles can be half filled with water to create a stable base and amplify the light into a bright glow. A simple and ingenious idea that should save you money on purchasing light bulbs. Of course these rely on you putting them out in the sun to charge in the morning, so will only really pay dividends if you are committed to doing that every day. But even if you aren’t an off-the-grid devotee, they are a fun green gadget to give as a gift to adults or older kids.
Now available at KidWind project costing $20 each

I’m not very fussy with pens, many times I prefer your classic clear ballpoint pen for writing checks, taking notes, doodling while on the phone, and an occasional sketch. If I wrote long cursive essays about how I spent my summer or breathy entries in my daily diary I’d probably want to go with the elegant fountain pen but as most of my pen use takes less than a minute or two I’m happy with the basics.

With my lack of pen connoisseurship in mind, I enjoyed trying out this new B2P pen from Pilot and was sold by the fact this new pen is made from 89.9 percent post-consumer recycled content made me take note. Taking just one plastic bottle out of the landfill makes approximately two of these pens, it probably won’t make much difference to the sorry state of plastic pollution in our landfills where some 50% of potentially recyclable materials there are from recyclable plastic bottles that people thoughtlessly ditch anyway. Every little bit helps and we have to start somewhere; the more we can reuse plastic for something as worthwhile as a decent pen then all the better.

The pen itself worked great for me, I liked the satisfying click, it works, the roller-ball ink didn’t skip and wrote smoothly and is still working fine after a couple of weeks of using it off and on. It looks a little like a the water bottle that it brings new life and is an attractive clear blue with water bottle swirly indentations with its design. The pen uses the Pilot G2 gel ink refill. I tried the blue but also comes in black and red.

Here is a doodle/sketch I made with this pen – silly drawing but I had fun with it and the pen did its job pretty well.

$23.20 for 12 pens at Amazon.com

Teflon pans may have been convenient for non-stick cooking, but we now know they are a health hazard with toxic fumes being emitted at high heats. If you are looking for alternatives to Teflon cookware, this Starfrit eco-friendly pan set could well be the answer. It uses a natural non-toxic ceramic coating to create a non-stick surface to the pans and it really does work. The pans themselves are made of recycled aluminium and designed to retain heat, as well as to be recyclable at the end of their lifespan. These are quite light pans and nowhere near as sturdy as cast iron, so don’t expect them to stand up to chipping with metal implements, but it you are looking for Teflon alternatives and a set of non-stick cookware with a similar functionality and general use, this would be a good and much healthier choice.
Set of five pans costs $139.99 at Amazon
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Gardening ought to be one of the greenest activities, but too often ‘green’ fingers rely on not so green accessories. Take all those plastic flower pots left over from planting out seedlings and cuttings for instance. What if you could just plant the whole pot and it would bio-degrade and add to the soil as the plant grows? Connecticut dairy farmers, Matt and Ben Freund, came up with this very idea and invented the cowpot. These are completely eco-friendly pots made of composted, dried cow manure and natural fibers and pressed into convenient pot shapes. Gardeners just get their seedlings or cuttings established in these pots and then plant them out in the pots, reducing transplant shock and adding nutrients as the pot biodegrades. And no plastic to dispose of! They come in several sizes from 3” to 5”.

Costs from $10.95 for a set of 12 pots from Gardeners Supply Company

Concerns over the health hazards of Teflon non-stick coatings have given birth to a whole range of new Eco-friendly cookware. Cuisinart have risen to the challenge with their Green Gourmet range of non-stick cookware. They use a hard anodized pan construction for heat conductivity and a natural petroleum-free ceramic coating to create a functional non-stick surface. The stainless steel handles are made from 70 percent recycled steel and even the packaging is recycled, so they really are making an effort to be genuinely green. As with all non-stick surfaces though they haven’t managed to make the surfaces tough enough to resist scratching from metal objects, so you need to treat them with care to get the best from them. Maybe get yourself some bamboo cooking implements for a truly green kitchen!

Currently Costs $224.99 for a 12 piece set at Sears.com.