In the Home Office

You should have seen the expression on the salesperson’s face when I asked her if the store carried any cruelty-free Post-Its! Post-Its? Yeah… and while you’re at it, how about some cruelty-free tape, and white-out, and glue? Unfortunately, supplies that have become staples around the home and office are not as animal-friendly as we’d like them to be. When I first realized that some of the largest manufacturers of office supplies were on the “ick” list, I sent a note off to a Q&A on the PETA web site. The advice I received was to start purchasing generic versions of these items rather than supporting 3M or Scotch directly. At the time, I was still searching for animal-friendly products, so I bided my time and stocked up on generic notepads to appease my Post-It habit.A recent discovery, The Green Office (thegreenoffice.com), offers a variety of products that could be good alternatives to the stuff cluttering up your desk right now. And what I really love about them is their “green screen” approach: each product is tagged as conventional, green, or dark green; all three categories require a product to meet certain sustainability criteria.

Again the caveat: not all eco-friendly stuff also gets the cruelty-free stamp of approval. The Green Office, alas, does offer 3M Post-Its (made out of recycled paper). BOOOOOO! However, check out Elephant Dung Poo Pads manufactured by Mr. Ellie Pooh, which also are available for purchase on The Green Office site. “Like post-its without the 3M sticky stuff!”  The paper is made up of elephant dung and rice paddy — seriously. I did some research, and apparently elephants in Sri Lanka stand to benefit a great deal from the realization that their dung can be a commodity. Because elephants are vegetarians, their waste is raw cellulose, which can be converted into acid-free paper that resembles papyrus. How fabulous is that? So, while I have yet to confirm that these elephants are being treated humanely, it may be that the increase in thier perceived value as living, breathing, eating, and… well… pooping beings will work in their favor.If you can’t get used to the idea of elephant dung post-its, stick with those generic sticky-note pads for now…